This study investigated how global and local perceptual processes evolve during childhood according to the meaningfulness of the stimuli. Children had to decide whether visually presented pairs of items were identical or not. Items consisted of global forms made up of local forms. Both global and local forms could represent either objects or…

In order to study how basic features interact in shape perception, subjects detected target figure presence and identified target figure shape in a combined 2-alternative forced-choice task. Target figures were embedded in Gabor random fields and were defined by feature contrast in spatial frequency, orientation, or both. Two figure classes were…

This dissertation investigates whether people possess knowledge of fine-grained distinctions among the sonority levels that are unattested in their language. Specifically, I investigate the whether people encode the putatively universal distinction between the sonority levels of fricatives and stops. Across languages, fricatives and stops differ…

This study utilizes qualitative research in examining second graders' perceptions of what it means to be a leader. Further, this study explores the capacity of second grade students to serve as leaders in a school wide service project. To this end, the students were involved in a leadership education course created by the researcher and were given…

This dissertation investigated the perception and production of dialectally variant prosodic properties in Korean. The current study was focused on the tonal system of North Kyungsang and South Cholla Korean to understand how lexical pitch accent, which is a property of the North Kyungsang variety, is realized by native and non-native speakers of…

Individuals differ in their ability to draw realistically and these differences can be seen in early childhood, prior to any formal instruction. Some children, considered precocious realists, are able to draw far more realistically than their peers, even if they have never received formal instruction. In this article, the authors describe some of…

The visual system groups image elements that belong to an object and segregates them from other objects and the background. Important cues for this grouping process are the Gestalt criteria, and most theories propose that these are applied in parallel across the visual scene. Here, we find that Gestalt grouping can indeed occur in parallel in some…

Perceptual systems must learn to explore and to use the resulting information to hone performance. Optimal performance depends on using information available at many time scales, from the near instantaneous values of variables underlying perception (i.e., detection), to longer term information about appropriate scaling (i.e., calibration), to yet…

Song learning, maintenance and production require coordinated activity across multiple auditory, sensory-motor, and neuromuscular structures. Telencephalic components of the sensory-motor circuitry are unique to avian species that engage in song learning. The song system shows protracted development that begins prior to hatching but continues well…

We are living in a world risk society where different forms of risk have become a part of daily life, such as energy crisis, financial crisis, global terrorism, and ecological crisis. Beck (World risk society, Polity Press, Cambridge, "1999") argues that knowing about "unawareness" might provide another way for us to reconsider the problems of the…

The magnitude of the association between developmental dyslexia (DD) and motion sensitivity is evaluated in 35 studies, which investigated coherence motion perception in DD. A first analysis is conducted on the differences between DD groups and age-matched control (C) groups. In a second analysis, the relationship between motion coherence…

When hitting, kicking, or throwing balls at targets, online control in the target area is impossible. We assumed this lack of late corrections in the target area would induce an effect of a single-winged Muller-Lyer illusion on ball placement. After extensive practice in hitting balls to different landing locations, participants (N = 9) had to hit…

We examined the organization and function of the ventral object processing pathway. The prevailing theoretical approach in this field holds that the ventral object processing stream has a modular organization, in which visual perception is carried out in posterior regions and visual memory is carried out, independently, in the anterior temporal…

The purpose of this paper is to construct a comprehensive review of the research literature in the reading of western staff notation. Studies in music perception, music cognition, music education and music neurology are cited. The aim is to establish current knowledge in music-reading acquisition and what is needed for further progress in this…

Cross-sectional studies show that self-efficacy (SE) serves as a partial mediator of the effect that perceptions of workplace environment have on self-reported workplace physical activity (PA). To further explore the role SE plays in the relationship between perceptions of the workplace environment and workplace PA, cross-sectional mediation…