Richard D. Odom

Perception of the relative distances of nearby sound sources

The pressure of a sound varies systematically with a listener’s distance from a sound source, providing a useful cue for perceiving changes in the distance between a listener and a sound-producing object, The pressure-discrimination hypothesis predicts that thresholds for discriminating changes in distance are constrained by the underlying ability to discriminate the resulting changes in sound pressure—specifically, that the smallest discriminable change in distance should be about 5% of the reference distance. Previous studies reported thresholds of about 5% for reference distances greater than a few meters but surprisingly worse thresholds for closer reference distances. In the present study, thresholds at two close distances, 1 and 2 m, were within the 5% range predicted from the pressure-discrimination hypothesis. Moreover, thresholds were significantly worse in a control condition in which the pressure cue was removed. Results of previous studies were adjusted to take into account the possibility of conservative response tendencies by the subjects. These adjusted findings agree well with the results of the present study and the pressure-discrimination hypothesis. It is concluded that variations in sound pressure are very useful for perceiving changes in listener-source distances, even at close distances.

The effects of modeling cues, reward, and attentional set on the production of grammatical and ungrammatical syntactic constructions.

Abstract Two experiments examined the effects of reward, modeling, and attentional set on the acquisition of novel syntactic responses by second-grade children. In Exp. I the experimental S s were exposed to and rewarded for the production of grammatical prepositional phrases of the form “preposition-article-noun” or ungrammatical phrases of the form “article-noun-preposition.” Both groups demonstrated an increase in the frequency of “preposition-article-noun” (grammatical) phrases relative to the performance of a control group. Experiment II revealed that S s of this age could repeat modeled ungrammatical phrases of the type “article-noun-preposition,” but, even with repetition, they did not generate new ones. These findings are discussed in relationship to the hypothesis that children of this age adopt an active problem-solving strategy, modifying ungrammatical utterances to make them grammatically correct.

Classification and perceptual development: exploring issues about integrality and differential sensitivity.

Abstract Pre- and elementary-school children, 4 and 11 years of age, were given a classification task similar to those given in research testing an account that posits a developmental shift from integral to separable perception. The development of perceptual sensitivity and its role in determining similarity and dimensional classifications was assessed with the variables of predisposed and distinctiveness-based salience. The results indicated that the level of perceptual sensitivity to the dimensions in the task determined the frequency of types of classifications. Children in both age groups made both kinds of critical classifications as a function of predisposed and distinctiveness-based salience.

Perception of Multidimensional Stimuli: A Differential-Sensitivity Account of Cognitive Processing and Development.

A differential-sensitivity account of cognitive processing is described that emphasizes the development of perceptual sensitivity to object relations that are directly perceived. Four experiments are presented that investigate this account and compare it to the integrality-separability view of development and the view that younger children are nonselective in their processing of multidimensional stimuli. Results show that stimulus differences are more salient than identities (Expt. 1), younger as well as older children are highly selective in their perception and classify stimuli by separate dimensions (Expt. 2), differential sensitivity affects the perceived magnitude of stimulus differences (Expt. 3), and younger and older children perceive separate dimensions in speeded classifications (Expt. 4). The importance of considering individual patterns of responses in cognitive and developmental research is also demonstrated.

Perceptual sensitivity to dimensional and similarity relations in free and rule-governed classifications

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the perceptual primacy of dimensional and similarity relations in the stimulus classifications of younger and older subjects. In Experiment 1, 4- and 10-year-olds were given free classifications in which they could group stimuli according to overall similarity or identities in size, color, or orientation. Both age groups classified stimuli most frequently according to identities on separate dimensions. In Experiment 2, 4-year-olds and adults were given free classifications followed by rule-governed classifications which required them to group stimuli according to specific relations. In the free classifications, a majority of subjects in both age groups classified the stimuli most frequently according to identities on separate dimensions. In the rule-governed classifications, both age groups were more accurate when a single separate relation was required for solution than when overall similarity was required. These results support a differential-sensitivity view of perceptual development, which asserts that individuals at all ages primarily perceive and use separate relations.

Problem solving and the perceptual salience of variability and constancy: A developmental study☆

Abstract In this study problem solving as a function of the perceptual salience of the dimensions of variability and constancy was investigated. Kindergarten and sixth-grade S s were given concept identification tasks in which both constancy and variability were represented on each trial. The stimuli representing variability contained different features of either color, form, or color and form, while those representing constancy contained identical attributes of color and form. Half of the S s in each age group were assigned to a condition in which the identification of variability was appropriate and relevant for solution, and the remaining half to a condition which required the identification of constancy. The results showed a significant interaction between age and condition, with the youngest group in the constancy relevant condition making more errors than any of the other age-condition groups. The discussion centered on the potential importance of perceptual salience as a determinant of developmental changes in problem solving.

The Recall of Relevant and Incidental Dimensional Values as a Function of Perceptual Salience, Cognitive Set, and Age.

Abstract In two experiments, subjects were presented an array of compound stimuli consisting of values from four, salience-assessed dimensions. Solution to an initial problem required recall of the array locations of values from only the most salient dimension. In addition to perceptual salience, instructions designed to establish cognitive sets for remembering value locations of certain dimensions were varied to explore the roles of these perceptual and cognitive variables in determining recall. In Experiment I, which involved subjects from grades kindergarten, third, and sixth, older subjects recalled more incidental as well as relevant information than younger subjects, and although instructions to remember values of a less salient incidental dimension facilitated their recall, the same instructions also facilitated the recall of values of a more salient incidental dimension even though no reference was made to those values. In Experiment II, adult recall of both relevant and incidental information was affected by instructions about differing numbers and types of dimensions. Adults and the oldest children did not differ in total information recalled, and there was no evidence for an increase with age in the cognitive ability to select only that information that was relevant to solving the initial problem. The results were discussed in terms of developmental changes in memory capacity and the absolute salience of the task information.

The development of hypothesis testing

The present study was designed to test the incidence of pattern hypotheses among Ss of CA 6, 11, and 19 years. During acquisition Ss were rewarded for LMR and RML patterns, and for those Ss meeting a given acquisition criterion, an extinction period was introduced. The results supported an earlier hypothesis that pattern responses reflect the formation and testing of certain hypotheses concerning problem solution. Degree of successful task solution was found to be a function of increasing CA.

Perceptual Sensitivity and Conceptual Coordination in Children and Younger and Older Adults

This study was designed to explore the effects of perceptual salience on performance in problems requiring the coordination of information. Groups of children, younger adults, and older adults were administered a salience-assessment task to determine each individual’s perceptual sensitivity to each of three dimensions. Half of the subjects in each age group were given a coordination problem with their two most salient dimensions relevant. The remaining half were given problems with their two least salient dimensions relevant. For each of the age groups, those problems containing the most salient information were solved faster and more accurately than problems containing the least salient information. The results demonstrate that perceptual sensitivity continues to influence problem solving from childhood through late adulthood.

Children’s probability learning as a function of the cross-sex effect

To assess the effects of the sex of E and S on the performance of S in a complex task employing social reinforcement, 6-yr.-old boys and girls were presented a probability learning task in which the sex of the reinforcing agent was varied. The general results indicated that when E was a male, girls made more correct responses than boys, while boys made more correct responses than girls, when E was a female.