In this reply to Salverda (2016), we address a critique of the claims made in our recent study of real-time processing of American Sign Language (ASL) signs using a novel visual world eye-tracking paradigm (Lieberman, Borovsky, Hatrak, & Mayberry, 2015). Salverda asserts that our data do not support our conclusion that native signers and…

This research assessed how emotive animated agents in a simulation-based training affect the performance outcomes and perceptions of the individuals interacting in real time with the training application. A total of 56 participants consented to complete the study. The material for this investigation included a nursing simulation in which…

Inversion effect in biological motion perception has been recently attributed to an innate sensitivity of the visual system to the gravity-dependent dynamic of the motion. However, the specific cues that determine the inversion effect in naïve subjects were never investigated. In the present study, we have assessed the contribution of the local…

Two important and related developments in children between 18 and 24 months of age are the rapid expansion of object name vocabularies and the emergence of an ability to recognize objects from sparse representations of their geometric shapes. In the same period, children also begin to show a preference for planar views (i.e., views of objects held…

The concept of spreading activation describes how retrieval of one memory cues retrieval of other memories that are associated with it. This study explored spreading activation in 6-, 12-, and 18-month-old infants. Infants (n = 144) learned two tasks within the same experimental session; one task, deferred imitation (DI), is typically remembered…

The attempt to record visual experience has been of central importance to many artists throughout the history of art. Vision itself is made up of many processes, both psychological and physiological, and is still only partially understood. This paper presents research into an aspect of visual experience descried as "close-up double…

The size congruity effect (SiCE) shows that number and physical size interact as magnitudes. That is, response times are faster when number and size are congruent (e.g., 2 4) than when they are incongruent (e.g., 2 4). A shared representational system has been the most influential account for the SiCE. Recently, this account has been challenged by…

Long-term deprivation of normal visual inputs can cause perceptual impairments at various levels of visual function, from basic visual acuity deficits, through mid-level deficits such as contour integration and motion coherence, to high-level face and object agnosia. Yet it is unclear whether training during adulthood, at a post-developmental…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is associated with significant language and communication delays, as well as problems with attention. This study investigated early language abilities in infants and toddlers with FXS (n = 13) and considered visual attention as a predictor of those skills. We found that language abilities increased over the study period of…

Computer simulations are often considered effective educational tools, since their visual and communicative power enable students to better understand physical systems and phenomena. However, previous studies have found that when students read visual representations some reading difficulties can arise, especially when these are complex or dynamic…

Literature suggests that drawing has an important role in the development of learning and thinking skills and the communication of ideas. However, the role and use of drawing by young learners within the process of designing is poorly understood. Working with 22 Grade 3 learners from a well-resourced school in KwaZulu-Natal, this study sought to…

Background: The most common problems in individuals with autistic spectrum disorders are eye contact, being able to follow objects for a long time and lack of attention. Sports activities are known to prevent the negative symptoms of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The Badminton sports branch has a positive effect on the individual's object control,…

Research has illuminated contributions--usually modeled separately--of both executive functioning (EF) and visuomotor integration (VMI) to mathematical development in early elementary school. This study examined simultaneous associations of EF and VMI, measured at the beginning of the school year, with concurrent and later mathematics performance…

This report considers the science of adult literacy acquisition, with the goal of identifying principles that may improve the effectiveness of adult literacy programs. We define literacy as a continuum, from emerging literacy, through improving literacy, to fluent literacy and we outline the factors that influence how far along that continuum an…

From early in development, segmenting events unfolding in the world in meaningful ways renders input more manageable and facilitates interpretation and prediction. Yet, little is known about how children process action structure in events composed of multiple coarse-grained actions. More importantly, little is known about the time course of action…