It has been reported that visual statistical learning (VSL) is facilitated in skewed distributions. However, it remains unclear whether enhancement of VSL in Zipfian distributions is due to consciousness of the regularities presented at high frequency. This study addressed this issue. We measured participants' subjective confidence in regularities…

A weaker McGurk effect is observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); weaker integration is considered to be the key to understanding how low-order atypical processing leads to their maladaptive social behaviors. However, the mechanism for this weaker McGurk effect has not been fully understood. Here, we investigated (1) whether…

We can incidentally learn regularities in a visual scene, and this kind of learning facilitates subsequent processing of similar scenes. One example of incidental learning is referred to as "contextual cueing," a phenomenon in which repetitive exposure to a particular spatial configuration facilitates visual search performance in the…

Nonverbal and other visual cues are well established as a critical component of human communication. Under most circumstances, visual information is available to aid in the comprehension and interpretation of spoken language. Citing these facts, many L2 assessment researchers have studied video-mediated listening tests through score comparisons…

It has been repeatedly argued among vocabulary researchers that semantically related words should not be taught simultaneously because they can interfere with each other. However, the question of what types of relatedness cause interference has rarely been examined carefully. In addition, there are disagreements among the past studies that have…

The present study investigated second language (L2) learners' acquisition of automatic word recognition and the development of L2 orthographic representation in the mental lexicon. Participants in the study were Japanese university students enrolled in a compulsory course involving a weekly 30-minute sustained silent reading (SSR) activity with…

We conducted 3 studies to explore cultural differences in global versus local processing and their developmental trajectories. In Study 1 ("N" = 363), we found that Japanese college students were less globally oriented in their processing than American or Argentine participants. We replicated this effect in Study 2 ("N" =…

This paper presents trial evaluation of a visual computer simulator in 2009-2011, which has been developed to play some roles of both instruction facility and learning tool simultaneously. And it illustrates an example of Computer Architecture education for University students and usage of e-Learning tool for Assembly Programming in order to…

This study examined age-group corresponding relationships of the controlled force exertion based on sinusoidal and quasi-random waveforms in 175 right-handed male adults aged 20 to 86 years. The subjects were divided into 3 groups based on age-level: 53 young (mean age 24.6, SD = 3.3 years), 71 middle aged (mean age 44.3, SD = 8.7 years), and 51…

Recent research has shown that paired-associate learning is an effective way to acquire second language vocabulary. However, much research in the field has measured small-scale vocabulary learning. This is due to the methods which learners used to conduct paired-associate learning: paper flash cards. This project sought to measure vocabulary…

The present experiment examined whether a response class was acquired by humans with delayed reinforcement. Eight white circles were presented on a computer touch screen. If the undergraduates touched two of the eight circles in a specified sequence (i.e., touching first the upper-left circle then the bottom-left circle), then the touches…

Informed by dual coding theory, this study explores the role of the visual content in L2 listeners' comprehension of news videotexts. L1 research into the visual characteristics and comprehension of news videotexts is outlined, subsequently informing the quantitative analysis of audiovisual correspondence in the news videotexts used. In each of…

A briefly presented target can be rendered invisible by a lingering sparse mask that does not even touch it. This form of visual backward masking, called object substitution masking, is thought to occur at the object level of processing. However, it remains unclear whether object-level interference alone produces substitution masking because…

The present study investigated the existence of a Japanese mental syllabary and units stored therein for speech production. Experiment 1 compared naming latencies between high and low initial mora frequencies using CVCVCV nonwords, indicating that nonwords with a high initial mora frequency were named faster than those with a low frequency initial…

How does past experience influence visual search strategy (i.e., attentional set)? Recent reports have shown that, when given the option to use 1 of 2 attentional sets, observers persist with the set previously required in a training phase. Here, 2 related questions are addressed. First, does the training effect result only from perseveration with…