Myra Thiessen

Emoticons in mind: An event-related potential study

It is now common practice, in digital communication, to use the character combination “:-)”, known as an emoticon, to indicate a smiling face. Although emoticons are readily interpreted as smiling faces, it is unclear whether emoticons trigger face-specific mechanisms or whether separate systems are utilized. A hallmark of face perception is the utilization of regions in the occipitotemporal cortex, which are sensitive to configural processing. We recorded the N170 event-related potential to investigate the way in which emoticons are perceived. Inverting faces produces a larger and later N170 while inverting objects which are perceived featurally rather than configurally reduces the amplitude of the N170. We presented 20 participants with images of upright and inverted faces, emoticons and meaningless strings of characters. Emoticons showed a large amplitude N170 when upright and a decrease in amplitude when inverted, the opposite pattern to that shown by faces. This indicates that when upright, emoticons are processed in occipitotemporal sites similarly to faces due to their familiar configuration. However, the characters which indicate the physiognomic features of emoticons are not recognized by the more laterally placed facial feature detection systems used in processing inverted faces.

Fatigue is a major issue for children and adolescents with physical disabilities

This study aimed to investigate fatigue, and its correlates, in children and adolescents with physical disabilities.

Visualizing Meaning: Literacy Materials for Dyslexic Children

Dyslexic children experience a difficulty in learning to read at a level that is expected from their level of intelligence. As dyslexia is commonly characterized by a deficit in phonemic processing, many literacy intervention programs focus on developing skills in this area. However, language is processed by two separate cognitive subsystems: the verbal (language) and the nonverbal (imaging) [3]. Having strengths in visual processing and problem-solving [7], dyslexic learners may be able to use these abilities inherent in the nonverbal subsystem to more easily acquire those skills related to the verbal subsystem, with which they typically struggle. It is suggested here that common teaching strategies that pair concrete nouns with simple and literal visual explanations may be used to teach more complex verbal concepts to children with dyslexia. As verbal information becomes more demanding, it is likely that visual explanations will also become more complex. It is therefore important to understand how visual cues can be used to reduce ambiguity and to create meaning in visual explanations. Current research is exploring how children with reading difficulties use, read and interact with visual information. Through both preference and performance testing, the ways in which visual explanations can be used in the literacy education of dyslexic children will be investigated.

What students say about their work and what it says about their work. Toward the development of rhetorical practice in the educational design studio

Abstract The knowledge and skill required by graphic designers is expanding from traditional views that value craft and technical expertise to those reliant on reflective design thinking. This marks a re-definition of design as a social practice more concerned with the facilitation of interaction(s) and that draws on design criticism and principles of rhetoric. Consequently, design practitioners must apply skills that place more emphasis on the impact or outcome of design and where people, and how they respond as part of a communication system, are the priority. However, despite this indication that rhetoric is vital to shifting design thinking and practice, our understanding of the skills related to its application and how they are developed is relatively limited. In this exploratory study we gauge the current state of design education in an Australian university to determine whether and to what extent students reflect critically on the effectiveness of their work.