Humans routinely make inductive generalizations about unobserved features of objects. Previous accounts of inductive reasoning often focus on inferences about a single object or feature: accounts of causal reasoning often focus on a single object with one or more unobserved features, and accounts of property induction often focus on a single…

When other individuals move, we interpret their movements as discrete, hierarchically-organized, goal-directed actions. However, the mechanisms that integrate visible movement features into actions are poorly understood. Here, we consider two sequence learning mechanisms--transitional probability-based (TP) and position-based encoding…

How are spatial and object attention coordinated to achieve rapid object learning and recognition during eye movement search? How do prefrontal priming and parietal spatial mechanisms interact to determine the reaction time costs of intra-object attention shifts, inter-object attention shifts, and shifts between visible objects and covertly cued…

Visually-based navigation is a key competence during spatial cognition. Animals avoid obstacles and approach goals in novel cluttered environments using optic flow to compute heading with respect to the environment. Most navigation models try either explain data, or to demonstrate navigational competence in real-world environments without regard…

Psychologists have long been captivated by the perception of animacy--the fact that even simple moving shapes may appear to engage in animate, intentional, and goal-directed movements. Here we report several new types of studies of a particularly salient form of perceived animacy: "chasing", in which one shape (the "wolf") pursues another shape…

We combine the Dimension-Action (DA) model with translational models to account for both the Stroop and the flanker effects. The basic assumption of the model is that there are distinct visual modules, each of which is endowed with both perception and response selection processes. We contrast this model with an alternative widespread view, the…

This article investigates categorical perception as a phenomenon which can be understood in terms of adaptation level theory. Data from four experiments, two visual and two tactual-kinesthetic, supports the idea that categorical perception is a pervasive characteristic of perceptual organization. (JAZ)

Seven experiments with a total of 480 subjects indicated that subjects visually imaging classical ambiguous figures have difficulty reconstructing the images, and that their construal of the image strongly influences what is depicted within the image. Image content, rather than image inspection, appears to be selective. (SLD)

How information is represented in visual images was explored in five experiments where subjects judged whether or not various properties were appropriate for given animals. The results support a constructivist notion of imagery, and the idea that images may act as analogues to percepts. (Author/DEP)

How the dual-task interference effects, observed when subjects attempted to simultaneously perform two simple tasks, are related to capacity limitations in perceptual processing of complex visual displays was studied. Results for a total of 110 undergraduates in 6 experiments support a 2-component theory of divided attention. (SLD)

Five experiments investigated the recognition of proper names and common nouns using the lexical decision paradigm. In Experiments 1-3 the case of the initial letter of written stimuli was systematically varied. An advantage was consistently found for proper names written with the first letter in capital. Crucially, response times to proper names…

A new grouping principle, which depends on perceived depth relations and follows a hierarchical embedding scheme, states that elements located within a common region of space will be perceived as grouped together. Common region produces clear powerful grouping effects, yet cannot be reduced to any other known grouping factor. (RLC)

The contrast between holistic and differentiated perception of multidimensional stimuli is reconceptualized. Hypotheses about the experiential status of dimensions within holistic perception were tested as explanations of children's general perceptual mode and of adults' integral mode. Three levels of dimensional status are described. (Author/RD)

Skilled readers read passages while their eye movements were monitored. Certain critical words were changed by the computer as the eye was in motion. Subsequent data indicated how wide the area is from which a reader acquires information during a fixation in silent reading. (Author/BJG)

Used two tasks to evaluate the grain of visual attention, the minimum spacing at which attention can select individual items. Results for eight adults on a tracking task and five adults on an individuation task show that selection has a coarser grain than visual resolution and suggest that the parietal area is the most likely locus of the…