Four-, six, and eight-month-old infants' perception of the multimodal features of the human face was investigated. Results show that speech-related exaggerated prosody cues facilitate detection of the audible features of multimodally represented faces, but not until six months of age. (Author/DR)

This commentary reviews the existing research literature concerning support for talking about objects in mediated communication, drawing three conclusions: speech alone is often sufficient for effective conversations; visual information about work objects is generally more valuable than visual information about work participants; and disjoint…

Infants looked at visual displays of two or three items while listening to auditory sequences of two or three sounds. When the rate and duration of sounds were constant, infants looked longer at the visual display that was numerically equivalent to the auditory sequence. When the rate and duration of sounds varied, infants showed no preference for…

Eight experiments involving 99 college students examined the role of edge-assignment in a contour matching task. Edge-matching performance was not based solely on a raw description of the edges themselves. Results suggest a pervasive tendency within the visual system to go beyond the edges toward figural shapes. (SLD)

Two experiments tested infants' sensitivity to properties of point-light displays of a walker and a runner that were equivalent regarding the phasing of limb movements. Found that 3-, but not 5-month-olds, discriminated these displays. When the symmetrical phase-patterning of the runner display was perturbed by advancing two of its limbs by 25…

Preferences for moving versus static bars were assessed in 8-, 16-, and 20-week-old infants. Findings revealed that at both 16 and 20 weeks, preferences were affected only by the velocity of the bar's movement. This effect persisted at 20 weeks even when static reference features were added to the display. (RH)

Argues that "persistence of vision" myth (the succession of still images perceived as continuous motion) has a place in the history of film scholarship but can no longer be given currency in film theory. Suggests replacement of the concept of the passive viewer implied by the myth by an enlightened understanding of how viewers actually…

Memory for object motion in three-month-old infants was investigated across different time intervals in three studies using a novelty preference method. Results indicated a significant preference for the novel motion after a one-minute delay, a significant preference for the familiar motion after a one-month delay, and no preferences at the…

Two studies examined three- and five-year-old children's and adults' explicit and implicit memory for pictures, using measures of recognition memory and perceptual facilitation. Found that recognition memory and perceptual facilitation were related for adults but not for children at either age. (MDM)

Tested 7 and 10 month olds for perception of correlations among facial features. After habituation to faces displaying a pattern of correlation, 10 month olds generalized to a novel face that preserved the pattern of correlation but showed increased attention to a novel face that violated the pattern. (BC)

An inquiry into the origins of dynamical awareness shows that impressions of dynamical quantities are not generally correlated with the values that these quantities take in equations of motion but are highly correlated with simple ratios of kinematic quantities or with specific kinematic features that do not specify underlying dynamics. (SLD)

The role of occlusion configurations in binocular vision was studied in 4 experiments with 10 adult observers. Results reveal that occlusion relationships are sensed during the earliest stages of binocular processing. A simple theoretical framework that unifies fusion, stereopsis, and occlusion is advanced. (SLD)

Examined infants' ability to locate an invisible target after instrumental and association training. After instrumental training, localization was dependent on visual cues, whereas after association training, it occurred with or without visual cues. Concluded that an updating strategy based on proprioceptive information is operative from the…

It is proposed that there is a modular but interconnected system underlying the perceived hierarchical organization of objects. The discussion centers on neural and cognitive mechanisms of organizing objects within objects in at least four separate subsystems. (SLD)

Discusses how advancements in computer graphics technology, especially hypermedia, are changing the language of visual communication and defining multidimensional communication models that require new perspectives in information design. Suggests that an understanding of these new communication models can be enhanced by examining works of…