Abstracts 2005 - The Psychonomic Society

Papers 22–27 Friday Morning
such representations, though, remains questionable. Work on the continued
influence effect, conceptual change, and resonance models of
memory suggests that, under most circumstances, memory is resistant
to spontaneous updating. Thus, determining conditions that facilitate
updating is necessary for theories of comprehension. In this study, we
examined updating processes for a narrative dimension usually considered
important for text comprehension—story protagonists. Participants
read stories describing character behaviors associated with
particular traits; this was followed by confirming evidence or statements
refuting the validity of trait inferences. Later in the stories,
characters behaved in either trait-consistent or trait-inconsistent ways.
Judgments and reading latencies revealed that readers failed to completely
update their models despite refutation statements. Extended
explanation was necessary to invoke successful updating.
9:20–9:35 (22)
The Use of Other Side Information: Explaining the My Side Bias in
Argumentation. CHRISTOPHER R. WOLFE, Miami University, &
M. ANNE BRITT, Northern Illinois University—Skillful writers address
the other side of an argument, whereas less skillful writers exhibit
“my side” biases. The first of four experiments analyzed 34 “authentic
arguments.” Nearly all rebutted or dismissed other side
arguments to outline the parameters of debate. Experiment 2 used opposing
claims and reasons to test the hypothesis that agreement is primarily
associated with claims and quality is primarily associated with
supporting reasons. These predictions were supported. We hypothesized
in Experiment 3 that argumentation schemata are deficient in two
ways: overemphasizing factual support and ignoring opposition. Thus,
we introduced two interventions: “know the opposition” and “more
than just the facts” before participants wrote essays. The “opposition”
intervention led to more previously presented other side information.
The “facts” manipulation led to more novel other side information. The
final experiment tested the consequences of concession, rebuttal, and
dismissal on perceived persuasiveness, quality, and author credibility.
Argumentation schemata are discussed.
9:40–9:55 (23)
When Eyegaze Speaks Louder Than Words: The Advantages of
Shared Gaze for Coordinating a Collaborative Search Task. SUSAN
E. BRENNAN, SUNY, Stony Brook, CHRISTOPHER A. DICKINSON,
University of Delaware, & XIN CHEN, MARK B. NEIDER, & GRE-
GORY J. ZELINSKY, SUNY, Stony Brook—Eyegaze is a potent means
of communication. We had remotely located pairs collaborate on a
perceptually difficult task: searching for a target (Q) among similar
objects (Os) on a shared display. Either partner could press a target
present/absent key. Each pair communicated via one condition: speech
alone, shared gaze alone (the cursor from each partner’s headmounted
eyetracker was superimposed on the other’s display), both shared gaze
and speech, or neither (no communication). As was expected, four
eyes were better than two, and communication improved efficiency.
With shared gaze, speech, or both, partners divided the labor (e.g., one
searched the left and the other, the right). Surprisingly, the fastest and
most efficient condition was shared gaze alone, especially when targets
were absent; in this time-critical task, speaking actually incurred
costs. Visual evidence about where a partner is looking is an efficient
resource for coordinating collaborative spatial tasks, with implications
for mediated communication.
Auditory–Visual Integration
Civic Ballroom, Friday Morning, 8:00–9:40
Chaired by Jean Vroomen, Tilburg University
8:00–8:15 (24)
The Spatial Constraint in Intersensory Pairing: No Role in Temporal
Ventriloquism. JEAN VROOMEN & MIRJAM KEETELS,
Tilburg University—A sound presented in close temporal proximity to
a flash can alter the perceived temporal occurrence of that flash
4
(= temporal ventriloquism). Here, we explored whether temporal ventriloquism
is harmed by spatial discordance between the sound and the
flash. Participants judged, in a visual temporal order judgment (TOJ)
task, which of two lights appeared first, while they heard taskirrelevant
sounds before the first and after the second light. Temporal
ventriloquism manifested itself in that performance was most accurate
(lowest just noticeable difference) when the sound–light interval
was ~100 msec. Surprisingly, temporal ventriloquism was unaffected
by whether sounds came from the same or different positions as the
lights, whether the sounds were static or moved laterally, or whether
the sounds and lights came from the same or opposite side of the median.
These results challenge the common view that spatial correspondence
is an important requirement for intersensory interactions
in general.
8:20–8:35 (25)
Two-Dimensional Localization With Spatially and Temporally
Congruent Visual–Auditory Stimuli. MARTINE GODFROY &
ROBERT B. WELCH, NASA Ames Research Center (sponsored by
Robert B. Welch)—An experiment evaluated the predicted enhancement
of perceptual localization with spatially and temporally congruent
visual–auditory stimuli in a two-dimensional, reference-free environment.
On the basis of the “information reliability hypothesis,” it
was expected that relative weighting of visual and auditory modalities
in the perceptual response would vary according to the main directional
component (i.e., azimuth vs. elevation) of the stimuli. Ten
participants were instructed to position a visual cursor toward randomly
presented visual, auditory, and visual–auditory targets. Analyses
of the responses in terms of their precision, orientation, centering,
and variability confirmed optimal integration, as well as the predicted
weighting of the two senses in relation to the directional component.
For example, in the vertical dimension, in which auditory targets are
relatively poorly localized, the influence of vision was greater than in
the horizontal dimension. This experiment was repeated using virtual
3-D sound sources, together with a comparison of structured versus
unstructured visual fields.
8:40–8:55 (26)
Visual Recalibration and Selective Adaptation in Auditory–Visual
Speech Perception. PAUL BERTELSON, Université Libre de Bruxelles,
& JEAN VROOMEN, SABINE VAN LINDEN, & BÉATRICE
DE GELDER, Tilburg University—Exposure to incongruent auditory–
visual speech can produce both recalibration and selective adaptation
of speech identification. In an earlier study, exposure to an ambiguous
auditory token (intermediate between /aba/ and /ada/) dubbed
onto the video of a face articulating either /aba/ or /ada/, recalibrated
the perceived identity of auditory targets in the direction of the visual
component, while exposure to congruent nonambiguous /aba/ or /ada/
pairs created selective adaptation—that is, a shift of perceived identity
in the opposite direction. Here, we examined the build-up course
of the aftereffects produced by the same two types of bimodal
adapters, over a 1–256 range of presentations. The aftereffects of nonambiguous
congruent adapters increased linearly across that range,
whereas those of ambiguous incongruent adapters followed a curvilinear
course, going up and then down with increasing exposure. This
late decline might reflect selective adaptation to the recalibrated ambiguous
sound.
9:00–9:15 (27)
Asynchrony Tolerance in the Perceptual Organization of Speech.
ROBERT E. REMEZ, DARIA F. FERRO, STEPHANIE C. WISSIG,
& CLAIRE A. LANDAU, Barnard College—Studies of multimodal
presentation of speech reveal that perceivers tolerate temporal discrepancy
in integrating audible and visible properties. Perceivers combined
seen and heard samples of speech to resolve syllables, words,
and sentences at asynchronies as great as 180 msec. Although explanations
have appealed to general flexibility in perceptual organization,
a unimodal test is required to know whether asynchrony tolerance in