Cognition and Perception
http://hdl.handle.net/1803/6273
2024-03-28T15:47:46ZThe Role of Cinematic Visual Context in Supporting Viewers’ Language Processing
http://hdl.handle.net/1803/17082
The Role of Cinematic Visual Context in Supporting Viewers’ Language Processing
Kistler, Dylan
Previous research has demonstrated that basic forms of visual context such as object identification and gaze support language comprehension. However, complex forms of narrative context may structure visual supports for language in ways research has yet to reflect. I investigated how cinematic cues such as edit timing and shot coverages (such as depicting actors in close-ups as opposed to wider views) support language comprehension. Participants were shown scenes that either maintain or disrupt the timing of cuts, shot coverage, and other elements of visual context. Participants were tested for their memory for conversation and theory of mind accuracy, as well as reported their perception of continuity from each scene. The experimental conditions had a significant effect on memory for conversation performance but not on theory of mind inference. Memory performance was significantly decreased in the slideshow and reordered conditions, and perceived continuity was significantly decreased for all three conditions compromising the original scene’s visual context.
This thesis was completed under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Levin for PSY-PC 4999: Honors Thesis in the Honors Program for Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt University.
Abstract:
Previous research has demonstrated that basic forms of visual context such as object identification and gaze support language comprehension. However, complex forms of narrative context may structure visual supports for language in ways research has yet to reflect. I investigated how cinematic cues such as edit timing and shot coverages (such as depicting actors in close-ups as opposed to wider views) support language comprehension. Participants were shown scenes that either maintain or disrupt the timing of cuts, shot coverage, and other elements of visual context. Participants were tested for their memory for conversation and theory of mind accuracy, as well as reported their perception of continuity from each scene. The experimental conditions had a significant effect on memory for conversation performance but not on theory of mind inference. Memory performance was significantly decreased in the slideshow and reordered conditions, and perceived continuity was significantly decreased for all three conditions compromising the original scene’s visual context.
2022-03-28T00:00:00ZThe Influence of Sequence Reversal on Event Perception
http://hdl.handle.net/1803/17074
The Influence of Sequence Reversal on Event Perception
Ding, Yining
Many theories in event perception suggest that the information about the temporal organization of events plays an important role in facilitating the comprehension of event content. Although a previous study conducted by Hymel et al. (2016) showed that most people were not aware of the presence of misordered events while viewing live-action videos of everyday activities, the current study aimed to use more sensitive measures, such as event memory and event segmentation, to reveal the impact created by sequence reversal on the perception and representation of events. In the experiments reported here, we discovered that viewers did not encode more visual details when the misordered event happened. The presence of reversals impaired viewers’ ability to remember the location of the current event in the general event sequence, but this effect disappeared when viewers engaged in an event segmentation task and detected reversals incidentally. In addition, the existence of event misorderings did not increase the number of event boundaries experienced by the viewers. These results reinforce the idea that viewers do not engage in moment-to-moment examination of event sequence as a default process. We argue that even though there is evidence that the reversal exerts an influence on viewers’ lower-level processing, reversals are rarely brought into conscious awareness and minimally impact viewers’ mental representation of events, especially when there is no task-specific demand to focus on event sequence.
Thesis Mentor: Dr. Daniel Levin
2022-03-28T00:00:00ZNeurobiological Markers of Rhythm Perception in Children with Specific Language Impairment
http://hdl.handle.net/1803/9516
Neurobiological Markers of Rhythm Perception in Children with Specific Language Impairment
Yu, Leyao
The possible links between music and language continue to intrigue researchers, who are capable of
investigating from their similar structures to shared human perception mechanism. In children with
typical development (TD), perception to regular musical rhythm was positively correlated to
grammar ability, and regular musical rhythm had a potentially positive influence on subsequent spoken
grammar task performance. Behavioral studies suggest that children with Specific Language Impairments
(SLI) have deficits in rhythm and meter perception along with the impairments in their lexical and
grammatical abilities. The study tested the potential differences in the underlying brain
mechanisms between the group of TD and the group of SLI and investigated the correlations between beat perception sensitivity from neural oscillations and expressive language measures. Eighteen children with SLI and sixty-six age-matched children with TD listened to regular beats with different placement of accents. Brain oscillations were measured using EEG system. The results suggested that the SLI population
was less sensitive in beat perception than TD, and shared neural processing for rhythm and grammar
might exist. The findings of neural oscillations were interpreted in the framework of Dynamic Attending
Theory. Complementing ongoing studies in the lab, the findings would facilitate future research on the early identification and intervention of SLI.
This thesis was written under the supervision of faculty advisor Reyna Gordon to fulfill the course requirement of PSY-PC 4999: Honor Thesis.
2019-03-15T00:00:00ZCharitable Giving: How Framing Amount Raised Influences Donations
http://hdl.handle.net/1803/9514
Charitable Giving: How Framing Amount Raised Influences Donations
Liberman, Andrea
When attempting to solicit donations, fundraisers must consider how their campaign is portrayed. The goal gradient effect suggests that people tend to accelerate towards a goal the closer they get to achieving that goal. Additionally, people often care about not only the absolute distance from a goal, but also the percentage of the goal that is completed. This study analyzes the interaction between the size of the campaign goal, the nearness to completion of the goal, and whether the amount already raised is represented as a percent or in absolute dollars. This paper includes two separate surveys: the first survey asked 68 college students to distribute $1,000 between four fundraisers, which included 2 each of small/large goal sizes, each of which was characterized as either near or far from the goal. The description of the amount raised (either as a percent or in absolute dollars) was varied between-subjects. An analysis of variance showed the only significant result to be a main effect of size, with smaller campaigns receiving more donations. The second survey was similar, but used a forced-choice method, with 62 college students being required to pick only 1 fundraiser to which they would donate $250. Again, only the main effect of size was significant. However, responses to an open-ended question in survey 2 indicate that future research in this area is necessary to better understand the interaction between the goal gradient effect and fundraising.
This research was conducted for the Honors Program (psy-pc 4999) with Dr. Jennifer Trueblood.
2019-04-24T00:00:00Z