Anisotropies related to representational gravity.

Four experiments examined whether representational gravity, in which memory for the location of a previously-viewed target is displaced in the direction of implied gravitational attraction, occurs uniformly across a target. Participants viewed stationary, vertically-moving, or horizontally-moving targets of different sizes and at different heights within the picture plane. After a target vanished, participants indicated the remembered location of the top edge or bottom edge of that target.

Responding to Basic and Complex Cases of Child Abuse: a Comparison Study of Recent and Current Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) Students with DSS Workers in the Field.

In an effort to improve the training of future child protection professionals, more than 70 universities and graduate schools in the United States have implemented Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) minors or graduate programs. In order to assess the efficacy of these programs, 46 current and recent graduates of a CAST minor and 43 child protection professionals currently employed by a Department of Social Services (DSS) were given two vignettes. The first vignette involved a clear case of sexual abuse and the second vignette involved a more complex case involving polyvictimization.

Does Allocation of Attention Influence Relative Velocity and Strength of Illusory Line Motion?

In illusory line motion, presentation of a cue is followed by presentation of a nearby stationary line, and the line is perceived to "unfold," "expand," or "extend" away from the cue. Effects of the allocation of attention regarding where the cue or the line would be presented were measured in three experiments, and ratings of relative velocity and relative strength of illusory motion were collected. Findings included (a) relative velocity and relative strength decreased with increases in SOA from 50 to 450 ms, (b) relative velocity and relative strength were not influenced by whether illusory motion moved from one end of the line to the other or from both ends toward the middle of the line, (c) increased uncertainty regarding where the line would appear did not influence relative velocity or relative strength, and (d) valid pre-cues regarding the location of a cue resulted in faster relative velocity than did invalid pre-cues, but pre-cue validity did not influence relative strength.

Representational momentum and anisotropies in nearby visual space.

The possibility of anisotropies in visual space in and near the final location of a moving target was examined. Experiments 1 and 2 presented a moving target, and after the target vanished, participants indicated the final location of the leading or trailing edge of the target. Memory for both edges was displaced forward from the actual final locations, and the magnitude of displacement was smaller for the leading edge.

Perceived causality, force, and resistance in the absence of launching.

In the launching effect, a moving object (the launcher) contacts a stationary object (the target), and upon contact, the launcher stops and the target begins moving in the same direction and at the same or slower velocity as previous launcher motion (Michotte, 1946/1963). In the study reported here, participants viewed a modified launching effect display in which the launcher stopped before or at the moment of contact and the target remained stationary. Participants rated perceived causality, perceived force, and perceived resistance of the launcher on the target or the target on the launcher.

An effect of contrast and luminance on visual representational momentum for location.

Effects of the contrast of target luminance and background luminance, and of the absolute level of target luminance, on representational momentum for the remembered final location of a previously viewed moving target were examined. Targets were high in contrast or luminance, decreasing in contrast or luminance, increasing in contrast or luminance, or low in contrast or luminance; the background was black or white. Representational momentum for target location was larger if targets were high or increasing in contrast or luminance and smaller if targets were low or decreasing in contrast or luminance.

A Fröhlich effect and representational gravity in memory for auditory pitch.

Memory for the initial pitch of an auditory target that increased or decreased in auditory frequency was examined. Memory was displaced forward in the direction of pitch motion, and this is consistent with the Fröhlich effect previously observed for visual targets moving in visual physical space. The Fröhlich effect for pitch increased with faster target velocity and decreased if an auditory cue with the same pitch as the initial pitch of the target was presented before the target was presented.

Displacement of location in illusory line motion.

Six experiments examined displacement in memory for the location of the line in illusory line motion (ILM; appearance or disappearance of a stationary cue is followed by appearance of a stationary line that is presented all at once, but the stationary line is perceived to "unfold" or "be drawn" from the end closest to the cue to the end most distant from the cue). If ILM was induced by having a single cue appear, then memory for the location of the line was displaced toward the cue, and displacement was larger if the line was closer to the cue. If ILM was induced by having one of two previously visible cues vanish, then memory for the location of the line was displaced away from the cue that vanished.

Effects of spatial cuing on the onset repulsion effect.

Effects of cuing the onset (initial) location of a moving target on memory for the onset location of that target were examined. If a cue presented prior to target onset indicated the location where that target would appear, the onset repulsion effect (in which the judged initial location of the target was displaced in the direction opposite to target motion) was decreased, and the onset repulsion effect was smaller if the cue was valid than if the cue was invalid. If a cue presented during target motion or after the target vanished indicated the location where that target had appeared, the onset repulsion effect was eliminated.

Effects of temporal and spatial separation on velocity and strength of illusory line motion.

The effects of line length and of spatial or temporal distance on illusory line motion (i.e., on the perception that a stationary line unfolds or expands away from a previously presented stationary cue) were examined in five experiments.

Representational momentum is not (totally) impervious to error feedback.

The influence of feedback on representational momentum for the final location of a moving target was examined in 3 experiments. The presence of binary feedback (correct, error) during practise trials or during larger blocks of experimental trials did not reduce representational momentum, nor did the presence of more informative feedback specifying the direction of error (error-in front of, error-behind) during larger blocks of experimental trials reduce representational momentum. Effects on representational momentum of whether feedback was consistently provided were inconsistent.