Differential functioning of retrieval/comparison processing in detection of the presence and absence of change.

BACKGROUND: The phenomenon of change blindness may reflect the failure to detect the presence of change or the absence of change. Although performing the latter is considered more difficult than the former, the differential functioning of retrieval/comparison processing that leads to differences between the detection of the presence and the absence of change has not been clarified. This study aimed to fill this research gap by comparing performance in the detection of the presence and the absence of a change in one item among a set of items. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Twenty subjects performed two types of change detection tasks, the first task was detection of one changed item among a set of unchanged items (detection of the presence of a change) and the other was the detection of one unchanged item among a set of changed items (detection of the absence of a change). The ANOVA results for the percentage of correct responses and signal detection measurement of A' values regarding change detection and the pattern of the results indicate that the subjects found (1) detection of the presence of change less difficult than detection of the absence of change (2), rejection of the presence of change less difficult than acceptance of the presence of change, and (3) rejection of the absence of change as difficult as acceptance of the absence of change. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Retrieval/comparison processing for the detection of the presence of change differs from that for the absence of change, likely because the retrieval/comparison process appears aimed at determining whether an item has changed but not whether an item appears the same as it had previously. This conclusion suggests the existence of an identification process that recognizes each item as the same as that observed previously that exists apart from the mechanism underlying retrieval/comparison processing.

Disturbances in equilibrium function after major earthquake.

Major earthquakes were followed by a large number of aftershocks and significant outbreaks of dizziness occurred over a large area. However it is unclear why major earthquake causes dizziness. We conducted an intergroup trial on equilibrium dysfunction and psychological states associated with equilibrium dysfunction in individuals exposed to repetitive aftershocks versus those who were rarely exposed. Greater equilibrium dysfunction was observed in the aftershock-exposed group under conditions without visual compensation. Equilibrium dysfunction in the aftershock-exposed group appears to have arisen from disturbance of the inner ear, as well as individual vulnerability to state anxiety enhanced by repetitive exposure to aftershocks. We indicate potential effects of autonomic stress on equilibrium function after major earthquake. Our findings may contribute to risk management of psychological and physical health after major earthquakes with aftershocks, and allow development of a new empirical approach to disaster care after such events.

The Thatcher illusion in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus).

Like humans, Old World monkeys are known to use configural face processing to distinguish among individuals. The ability to recognize an individual through the perception of subtle differences in the configuration of facial features plays an important role in social cognition. To test this ability in New World monkeys, this study examined whether squirrel monkeys experience the Thatcher illusion, a measure of face processing ability in which changes in facial features are difficult to detect in an inverted face. In the experiment, the monkeys were required to distinguish between a target face and each of the three kinds of distracter faces whose features were altered to be different from those of the target. For each of the pairs of target and distracter faces, four rotation-based combinations of upright and inverted face presentations were used. The results revealed that when both faces were inverted and the eyes of the distracter face were altered by rotating them at an angle of 180° from those of the target face, the monkeys' discrimination learning was obstructed to a greater extent than it was under the other conditions. Thus, these results suggest that the squirrel monkey does experience the Thatcher illusion. Furthermore, it seems reasonable to assume that squirrel monkeys can utilize information about facial configurations in individual recognition and that this facial configuration information could be useful in their social communications.

Perceptual and not physical eye contact elicits pupillary dilation.

Eye contact is important to share communication during social interactions. However, how accurately humans can perceive the gaze direction of others toward themselves and whether pupils dilate when humans consciously or unconsciously perceive own eyes are looked by others remain unclear. In this study, we examined the relationship between the explicit perception of looking into each other's eyes and the implicit physiological response of pupillary dilation by using an original face-to-face method. We found that humans do not correctly detect the gaze direction of others. Furthermore, one's pupils dilated when one gazed at others' eyes. Awareness of others' gaze on one's eyes, rather than the actual focusing of other's gaze on one's eyes, enhanced pupillary dilation. Therefore, physiological responses are caused not when people actually look into each other's gaze, but when the consciousness of other's gaze is activated, which suggests that eye contact often involves one-way communication.

Double tactile sensations evoked by a single visual stimulus on a rubber hand.

The classical rubber hand illusion involves individuals misattributing tactile sensations 'felt' by their real hand hidden from view to a rubber prosthetic hand that they 'see' being tactilely stimulated in synchrony. However, from previous studies, it is not clear whether individuals actually feel the tactile sensation in the rubber hand, real hand, or both because the same part of the rubber and real hands were stimulated simultaneously. Here, we attempted to isolate subjects' sensations attributed to the rubber hand from those sensed in the real hand by placing the rubber and real hands in opposing orientations (e.g., palm up versus dorsum up). Interestingly, half of the subjects reported two tactile sensations for one visual stimulus, that is, one in the rubber finger stimulated visually with a light source and one in the real finger overlapping the rubber finger. This finding suggests that the tactile sensation induced by the visual stimulus is referred to the rubber hand and real hand simultaneously. Thus, both visuo-spatial and somatic codes are used in the localization of tactile sensation in the rubber hand illusion.

The effect of a flashing visual stimulus on the auditory continuity illusion.

The effect of a visual stimulus on the auditory continuity illusion was examined. Observers judged whether a tone that was repeatedly alternated with a band-pass noise was continuous or discontinuous. In most observers, a transient visual stimulus that was synchronized with the onset of the noise increased the limit of illusory continuity in terms of maximum noise duration and maximum tone level. The smaller the asynchrony between the noise onset and the visual stimulus onset, the larger the visual effect on this illusion. On the other hand, detection of a tone added to the noise was not enhanced by the visual stimulus. These results cannot be fully explained by the conventional theory that illusory continuity is created by the decomposition of peripheral excitation produced by the occluding sound.

Perceptual grouping in pigeons.

Animal studies reveal that many species perceive partially occluded objects in the same way as do humans. Pigeons have been a notable exception. We re-investigated this anomaly of pigeon perception using a different approach from previous studies. With our method, we show that pigeons perceive occluded objects in the same manner as do other species. In addition, we report that pigeons can recognize perceptually transparent surfaces when the effect is induced by the same perceptual mechanisms as occlusion. These results give behavioral evidence that the perception of both occlusion and transparency is a common visual function shared by pigeons and humans, despite the structural differences between their visual systems.