This article examines how the human visual system represents the shapes of 3-dimensional (3D) objects. One long-standing hypothesis is that object shapes are represented in terms of volumetric component parts and their spatial configuration. This hypothesis is examined in 3 experiments using a whole-part matching paradigm in which participants…

In separate studies, observers viewed upright biological motion, inverted biological motion, or arbitrary motion created from systematically randomizing the positions of point-light dots. Results showed that observers (a) could learn to detect the presence of arbitrary motion, (b) could not learn to discriminate the coherence of arbitrary motion,…

Infants' phonological acquisition during the first 18 months of life has been studied within experimental psychology for some 30 years. Current research themes include statistical learning mechanisms, early lexical development, and models of phonetic category perception. So far, linguistic theories have hardly been taken into account. These…

In honeybees, the proboscis extension response (PER) can be conditioned by associating an odor stimulus (CS) to a sucrose reward (US). Conditioned responses to the CS, which are acquired by most bees after a single CS-US pairing, disappear after repeated unrewarded presentations of the CS, a process called extinction. Extinction is usually thought…

Does the name of the special interest group, "The Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior," imply that those who analyze the behavior of human animals must organize themselves apart from those who analyze the behavior of nonhuman animals? Is the use of nonhumans in experiments really not relevant to the analysis of the behavior of humans? If so,…

In this essay, Christopher Winch explores the relevance of Ludwig Wittgenstein's account of rule-following to vocational education with particular reference to the often-made claim that any account of an activity in terms of rule-following implies rigidity and inflexibility. He argues that most rule-following is only successful when it involves a…

The purpose of the present experiment was to study storage properties of dual codes for pictures and words by manipulating instructions and to study retrieval properties by manipulating the representational form of the test items. (Author)

Provides an overview of the current methods of behavior modification, reviews some critical issues, such as fear of control, use of aversive control, and behavior modification in prisons, in an effort to aid in differentiating warranted from unwarranted concerns. Ethical standards and practices are discussed. (Author/AM)

The present experiment was conducted in order to assess the effects of practice, blocked versus mixed presentation and familiarity on "same"-"different" judgments. (Author)

Free-recall (FR) instructions produce substantially different patterns of retention than serial recall (SR) instructions. In the present experiments an effort was made to determine to what extent two factors contribute to the dissimilarities between FR and SR. (Author/RK)

An assessment of selective search as an explanation for intentional forgetting was investigated by measuring reaction time (RT) in paired-associate lists of varying length. (Editor)

The aim was to determine whether logical concepts acquired in one language could be transferred to another language. (Author)

This document discusses and critically reviews problems existing with utilizing traditional experimental methods in psychology and the behavioral sciences. Experimental and correlational data collection methods are reviewed and a new data collection method merging the more productive features of each is proposed. The philosophy, strategy, and…

On the assumption that at some stage of reading it is necessary to identify individual letters rapidly and accurately, the present study focused on the use of redundancy in single-letter identification as a function of reader ability. (Author)

This article reported the development of a method aimed at exploring the relations among covert muscle behavior, mental imagery, and the perception of external stimulation. (Author/RK)