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Biomedical subjects

D J Schiano

Publications and source records attributed to D J Schiano.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Measuring and modeling facial affect.

In recent years, researchers in computer science and human-computer interaction have become increasingly interested in characterizing perception of facial affect. Ironically, this applied interest comes at a time when the classic findings on perception of human facial affect are being challenged in the psychological research literature, largely on methodological grounds. This paper first describes two experiments that empirically address Russell's methodological criticisms of the classic work on measuring "basic emotions," as well as his alternative approach toward modeling "facial affect space." Finally, a user study on affect in a prototype model of a robot face is reported; these results are compared with the human findings from Experiment 1. This work provides new data on measuring facial affect, while also demonstrating how basic and more applied research can mutually inform one another.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Tops are more salient than bottoms.

Past research has verified that observers assume that objects are reliably oriented with respect to a gravitationally centered coordinate system. Observers also appear to attend more to specific parts of objects, like faces, that typically are closer to the top. In the present work, we explored whether or not observers have a generic bias to view tops as being more salient than bottoms. In three experiments, observers indicated whether random shapes appeared to be more similar to comparison shapes that shared identical tops rather than bottoms. Observers exhibited a reliable tendency to match figures with similarly shaped tops. Matching choice was also a function of global shape attributes such as axis of elongation or size. The findings are consistent with the notion that, in nature, tops tend to be the most visible part and to provide the best information with respect to important aspects of objects such as animal intentionality and artifact functionality.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Structure and strategy in encoding simplified graphs.

Tversky and Schiano (1989) found a systematic bias toward the 45 degrees line in memory for the slopes of identical lines when embedded in graphs, but not in maps, suggesting the use of a cognitive reference frame specifically for encoding meaningful graphs. The present experiments explore this issue further using the linear configurations alone as stimuli. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that perception and immediate memory for the slope of a test line within orthogonal "axes" are predictable from purely structural considerations. In Experiments 3 and 4, subjects were instructed to use a diagonal-reference strategy in viewing the stimuli, which were described as "graphs" only in Experiment 3. Results for both studies showed the diagonal bias previously found only for graphs. This pattern provides converging evidence for the diagonal as a cognitive reference frame in encoding linear graphs, and demonstrates that even in highly simplified displays, strategic factors can produce encoding biases not predictable solely from stimulus structure alone.

Bias↗
PubMed1990

Mueller-Lyer decrement: practice or prolonged inspection?

Noting the similarity between the illusion decrement and selective adaptation paradigms, Long has challenged the view that illusion decrement effects reflect a strategic--as opposed to a structural--underlying mechanism, and has called for further research on this issue. To investigate the confound between prolonged free inspection and repeated trials in the standard decrement procedure, the effects of three inspection conditions (continuous, intermittent, and immediate) on the magnitude of the overestimation Mueller-Lyer illusion have been assessed under two levels of trials (a total of two or six judgments). Significant illusion decline was found only under conditions of repeated trials, with either continuous or intermittent inspection. These findings do not support the predictions of purely structural theories (including neural adaptation and efferent readiness theories), according to which degree of decrement should be determined solely by viewing time. Instead, the data demonstrate that illusion decrement is a product of practice, providing converging evidence for the view of decrement as involving a cognitive 'recalibration' or learning process.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Perceptual and conceptual factors in distortions in memory for graphs and maps.

We propose that representations of visual stimuli are a consequence of both perceptual and conceptual factors that may be revealed in systematic errors in memory. Three experiments demonstrated increased (horizontal or vertical) symmetry in perception and memory of nearly symmetric curves in graphs and rivers in maps. Next, a conceptual factor, an accompanying description biasing toward symmetry or asymmetry, also distorted memory in the expected direction for the symmetric descriptions. In the two final experiments, we investigated conceptual factors in selection of a frame of reference. Subjects remembered lines in graphs, but not in maps, as closer to the imaginary 45 degrees line. Combined with earlier research, this suggests that the reference frame for map lines is the canonical axes and for graph lines, the imaginary 45 degrees line.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

On listening where we look: the fragility of a phenomenon.

The role of eye position information has been the subject of some debate in the literature on the visual facilitation of auditory localization and attention. In one particularly compelling study, Reisberg, Scheiber, and Potemken (1981) found that fixation position strongly influenced subjects' recall performance in a binaural selective-listening task. The present paper describes repeated failures to demonstrate the eye position effect under conditions similar to those of the original study, thus challenging the robustness of this oft-cited phenomenon of "listening where we look."

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Relative size and spatial separation: effects on the parallel-lines illusion.

The parallel-lines illusion provides a prototypical example of visual-size assimilation, where the size of a test element is phenomenally skewed towards (or "averaged with") that of a context element. Most assimilation theories predict that distortion should decrease with spatial separation between context and test lengths. However, there is some disagreement about the nature of the function relating sizes of context and test elements and magnitude of assimilation. The present study tests the limits of assimilation in the parallel-lines configurations by observing the effects of a wide range of context/test size ratios, repeated over two disparate levels of spatial separation. The results replicate and extend 1979 findings by Brigell and Uhlarik, confirming that assimilation rises to a peak at midrange size ratios, only to decrease continuously as the ratios become more extreme. The functions were nonmonotonic and similar in shape for both levels of spatial separation, with an over-all decrease in distortion for configurations with the larger separation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Cognitive styles: illusory phenomena.

The relationship between cognitive style and illusion magnitude was examined using the assimilation and contrast Delboeuf distortions. As in previous research, field dependence correlated positively with assimilation; however, a significant negative correlation with contrast was also found, suggesting that, while field dependence may involve the illusory integration of the stimulus field, field independence may involve its equally illusory differentiation.

Adolescent↗