Rotating objects cue spatial attention via the perception of frictive surface contact.

We report a new attentional cueing effect, which shows how attention models the physical force of friction. Most objects we see are in frictive contact with a 'floor', such that clockwise rotation causes rightward movement and counterclockwise rotation leftward movement. Is this regularity encoded in spatial orienting responses? In Experiment 1, seeing a clockwise-rotating 'wheel' produced faster responses to subsequent targets appearing on the right vs. left (and vice versa for counterclockwise rotation). Thus, when viewing a lone rotating wheel, we orient attention toward where we predict it will move next, assuming frictive floor contact. But what happens if the rotating wheel is seen touching another visible surface? In Experiment 2, rotational cueing was stronger for wheels touching a visible floor, was abolished for wheels near but not touching another surface, and reversed for wheels touching a ceiling. We conclude that the visual system makes an assumption of frictive floor contact, and rapidly analyzes visual cues to frictive contact with other surfaces, in order to orient attention toward where objects are likely to move next.

May the force be against you: Better visual sensitivity to speed changes opposite to gravity.

Beyond seemingly lower-level features such as color and motion, visual perception also recovers properties more commonly associated with higher-level thought, as when an upwardly accelerating object is seen not just as moving, but moreover as self-propelled, and resisting the force of gravity. Given past research demonstrating the prioritization of living things in attention and memory, here we hypothesized that observers would be more sensitive to an object's speed changes if those speed changes were opposite to natural gravitational acceleration. Across six experiments, we found that observers were more sensitive to objects' accelerations when they moved upward (when those accelerations were opposite to gravity) and less sensitive to their accelerations when they moved downward (when those accelerations were consistent with gravity). Moreover, observers were more sensitive to objects' decelerations when they moved downward (when those decelerations appeared as "braking" against gravity), and less sensitive to their decelerations when they moved upward (when those decelerations were consistent with gravity). This greater visual sensitivity to speed changes opposite to gravity is consistent with previous results suggesting that we readily monitor the world for cues to animacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Eating Healthy: Understanding Added Sugar through Proportional Reasoning.

Research suggests that integrated STEM activities can best support students in developing their mathematical and scientific understanding. On one hand, while science provides mathematics with real-life authentic problems to investigate, mathematics provides science powerful tools to explore those problems. In line with this call, in this study, we designed an integrated lesson at the cross-section of proportional reasoning and added sugar present in food products to explore how added sugar provides students with a meaningful context to engage in proportional reasoning and how proportional reasoning helps students identify the quantity of added sugar present in different food products and provides students with a platform to initiate a conversation around quality of food products. Developed on the theoretical framework of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME), this lesson was remotely implemented on three middle school students. The result section highlights the design principle of the lesson that provided students with an opportunity to construct an understanding of both the disciplines through a mutual interaction.