In the standard Proportion-Congruent (PC) paradigm, performance is compared between a list containing mostly congruent (MC) stimuli (e.g., the word RED in the color red in the Stroop task; Stroop, 1935) and a list containing mostly incongruent (MI) stimuli (e.g., the word BLUE in red). The PC effect, the finding that the congruency effect (i.e.,…

This study investigated when the Bayesian cue combination of piloting and path integration occurs in human homing behaviors. The Bayesian cue combination was hypothesized to occur in estimating the home location or self-localization. In Experiment 1, the participants learned the locations of 5 objects (1 located at the learning position) in the…

When readers search for misspellings in a proofreading task or for a letter in a letter detection task, they are more likely to omit function words than content words. However, with misspelled words, previous findings for the letter detection task were mixed. In two experiments, the authors tested the functional equivalence of both tasks. Results…

Four experiments examined the roles of extended surfaces and the number of points in the boundary superiority effect in goal localization. Participants learned the locations of 4 objects in the presence of a boundary, landmarks, or both in an immersive virtual environment by reproducing the locations with feedback. Participants then localized the…

We investigated how humans encode large-scale spatial environments using a virtual taxi game. We hypothesized that if 2 connected neighborhoods are explored jointly, people will form a single integrated spatial representation of the town. However, if the neighborhoods are first learned separately and later observed to be connected, people will…

This pilot study was designed to examine mental rotation ability in individuals with Down syndrome. 7 individuals with Down syndrome (mean mental age = 8.18 +/- 2.73 years; mean chronological age = 29.8 +/- 5.4 years) and a group of 9 typically developing children, matched for mental age, (mean mental age = 8.40 +/- 1.73 years; mean chronological…

Noting that while the number of errors gives a general indication of spelling ability, it may represent an oversimplification of the spelling process, a study examined the spelling ability of 40 Canadian third grade students of average ability. Subjects were divided into low and high spelling ability groups on the basis of the Edmonton (Alberta)…