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<p> Prior research has shown that people perceive items in a larger font size as being more memorable than items in a smaller font size. This perception leads to higher judgments of learning (JOLs; i.e., confidence ratings regarding the likelihood of recalling an item) for larger font size items than smaller font size items. Yet other research has shown that people recalled more when the information was presented in a smaller font than when it was presented in a larger font size. The present study examined if there are boundary conditions of font sizes affecting JOLs and actual recall performance. As we expected, the results show that JOLs increased as a function of the size category. The results also show that font size impacted recall performance such that items in the Smallest size category were recalled at a higher rate than items in the other three font size categories.</p>

<p>A complex nervous system must transmit information many times, potentially over relatively vast distances. For example, information in vision originates from the retina, conveyed via the optic nerve to the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) before arriving at the visual cortex at the back of the brain ? a distance spanning almost the entire length of the brain. From there, some information may be further transmitted forward onto the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain. How does the brain attain a high reliability (i.e. minimal errors) throughout the entirety of such a communications process? Is information in the brain represented continuously, or discretely? A communications systems engineer, such as Claude Elwood Shannon, would stipulate that a continuous neural coding protocol is too error prone due to noise. To attain high reliability, a discrete neural coding protocol would be the necessary pre-requisite. This is the conclusion of my work in Chapter 2, based on a theoretical simulation of information transmission (i.e. communications) between neurons. My analysis of behavioral tasks in Chapters 3 (i.e. a conjunction probability task) and 4 (i.e. an intertemporal choice task) further reinforced this conclusion ? that, information in the brain is most likely to be represented discretely. The right question to pose is not one about continuous-versus-discrete representation, but rather, one that is focused on how fine-grained the discreteness is (i.e. how many bits of precision). We cannot and should not simply assume the use of continuous models in modeling cognitive tasks ? we need to test how fine grained the discreteness is. This is a major advance and demarcation from the continuous model assumption typically employed in data analysis.

The human visual system combines contrast information from the two eyes to produce a single cyclopean representation of the external world. This task requires both summation of congruent images and inhibition of incongruent images across the eyes. These processes were explored psychophysically using narrowband sinusoidal grating stimuli. Initial experiments focussed on binocular interactions within a single detecting mechanism, using contrast discrimination and contrast matching tasks. Consistent with previous findings, dichoptic presentation produced greater masking than monocular or binocular presentation. Four computational models were compared, two of which performed well on all data sets. Suppression between mechanisms was then investigated, using orthogonal and oblique stimuli. Two distinct suppressive pathways were identified, corresponding to monocular and dichoptic presentation. Both pathways impact prior to binocular summation of signals, and differ in their strengths, tuning, and response to adaptation, consistent with recent single-cell findings in cat. Strikingly, the magnitude of dichoptic masking was found to be spatiotemporally scale invariant, whereas monocular masking was dependent on stimulus speed. Interocular suppression was further explored using a novel manipulation, whereby stimuli were presented in dichoptic antiphase. Consistent with the predictions of a computational model, this produced weaker masking than in-phase presentation. This allowed the bandwidths of suppression to be measured without the complicating factor of additive combination of mask and test. Finally, contrast vision in strabismic amblyopia was investigated. Although amblyopes are generally believed to have impaired binocular vision, binocular summation was shown to be intact when stimuli were normalized for interocular sensitivity differences. An alternative account of amblyopia was developed, in which signals in the affected eye are subject to attenuation and additive noise prior to binocular combination.

Piaget's theory of concrete operations structures d'ensemble is discussed, and certain predictions derived from it investigated in a longitudinal study of 120 children aged between 5.0 and 11.10. The data of these testings were submitted to a variety of analyses. The results suggested that the development of concrete operations was unlike the succession of discontinuous generalised stages which Piaget has postulated. His model is criticised as taking insufficient account of individual differences and of the structure of the testing situation.

The argument of this work is that, despite the massive body of literature that has accumulated in the decades since the discovery of 'gestalt' as the ruling principle of perception, little genuine progress in solving the problem posed by the visual perception of form has been made. This state of affairs is attributed, moreover, to a fundementally inadequate formulation of this problem. It is not enough merely to revise this or that theory, or this or that experimental design, if the argument is correct; rather, it is necessary to revise the formulation of the form problem upon which theory and experimental design rest. Thus, the reformulation suggested is that (a) form is the unit which segments space, and consequently that (b) the problem posed by this unit is essentially that of its segmentation/formation of space, rather than that of its recognition/conservation through change in space; the former is the primary, the latter the secondary, (psycho-physical) problem posed by the visual perception of form. This work also contains a segmentation (spatial/holistic) theory of form, and five experiments designed to test this theory against current recognition (dimensional/analytic) theories of form (for example, see Corcoran, 1971); these experiments are all concerned with different facets of the role played by contour in visual perception, and they provide some evidence for the former, and against the latter, type of theory. It should be pointed out that both in the main body of the text, and in an appendix, it is argued that segmentation is primarily two-dimensional rather than three-dimensional: two-dimensional 'figure'form is primary over three-dimensional 'object' form in perceptual development, and indeed, the latter is constructed from the former. This hypothesis is part of a more general point of view about cognition, namely that there is an a priori spatial system which is used to process perceptual input, and establish in it the spatial structure of perceptual experience, but one whose conceptual implications and properties become available for symbolisation and thinking when it is freed from the task of perceptual processing by being lifted out of perception into a visual form of representation which Bruner terms 'ikonic' (See Bruner et al., 1966).

Recent research has shown that food and beverage perception can be influenced by means of aromas, shapes, colours, and even sounds (e.g. Auvray & Spence, 2008; Spence & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2014). Over-and-above any sounds involved in the eating process, various studies have begun to demonstrate the relationship between auditory attributes and taste/flavour perception. This thesis examines crossmodal correspondences - defined as the often-surprising associations between basic attributes of different sensory modalities - between sounds and tastes/flavours. The results reported here demonstrate that participants can make non-random matches between sound and a range of taste/flavour attributes including basic tastes, creaminess, spiciness, and even temperature. Moreover, soundtracks that are congruent with specific taste/flavours are demonstrated to influence food/drink evaluation (the "sonic seasoning" phenomenon). Most importantly, this thesis highlights the multiple pathways by which sonic seasoning might occur. Mirroring the role of food-related auditory cues (such as the sizzle of the steak), soundtracks that can shape our sensory expectations before tasting as well as focus our attention on specific tastes/flavours during tasting. In addition, the emotions evoked by the soundtracks can also be transferred to the food that one happens to be eating. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications, practical applications, and directions for future research.

Alcohol and study list repetition were used to manipulate encoding quality to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying false memories. The DRM paradigm (Deese 1959b; Roediger & McDermott 1995) was used to elicit false memories. Participants studied lists of words (veridical items) which were semantically related to a critical non-presented item, which, if erroneously endorsed, served as the measure of false memory. Implicit and explicit tests of memory were used, and remember know judgments were also taken. An anterograde impairment of memory after alcohol was obtained for veridical items using explicit tests, although no effect of alcohol was found using implicit measures. Alcohol reduced false memory levels relative to placebo for material viewed once at encoding. In accordance with previous en1pirical research, repetition was found to increase, decrease or have no effect on false memory levels. The introduction of distinctive pictorial stimuli at encoding resulted in an inverted U -shaped relationship between repetition and false memories, though this effect was confined to remember judgments only. The increase in false memories as a function of repetition was greater in the alcohol group than in the placebo group_ whilst the placebo group was better able to use extended repetitions to reduce false memories. These results are accounted for using the Activation and Monitoring Framework (Gallo & Roediger 2002). It is suggested that reduced levels of false memories under alcohol for material viewed once can be attributed to reduced activation within semantic networks resulting from superficial encoding under alcohol (Craik 1977) and impoverished attentional resources when intoxicated (Steele & Josephs 1988). The selective impairment of recollective traces under alcohol (Duka et al. 2001) may limit the potential for extended repetitions to diminish false memories under alcohol. The role of metacognitive factors in affecting false memory endorsement is also discussed.

Previous research has shown that feedback tone affects users' perceptions of computer systems. This study tested the generality of this finding and explored possible interactions of feedback tone with feedback validity and user gender. The task was a multiple cue probability learning (MCPL) problem. Experiment 1was used to establish an appropriate level of task difficulty and ensure the effectiveness of cognitive feedback. In Experiment 2, cognitive feedback validity and feedback tone were manipulated as within-subjects variables. Women improved substantially over blocks of trials in both tone conditions whereas men improved only in the polite condition. Most women preferred polite feedback whereas most men preferred the opposite. These results extend the range of tasks in which feedback tone has been shown to affect users' reactions to interfaces. These results suggest dissociation between performance and preference as men improved more with polite feedback although they preferred direct feedback.

<p> This qualitative research study explored the lived experience of using authentic movement within the context of nature, specifically to discover if this practice offered transformative potential for those using it. I used the heuristic research method to interview 13 coresearchers and interpret the results. Twelve of the coresearchers were female and 1 was male. They were all above the age of 50 and experienced in the use of authentic movement, both professionally and as a personal meditative practice. My focus was on their personal lived experiences. I used open-ended interview questions that resembled the technique of explication, borrowed from the science of consciousness and philosophy. The interviews were then analyzed. The heuristic process aided my ability to understand the potential for transformation that I observed during the interviews. The data analysis was multilayered. The first level of analysis identified 4 categories: (a) the explication of 1 lived experience of authentic movement in a natural environment and its transformative potential, (b) the influences that a natural environment had on authentic movement, (c) various challenges or differences between moving indoors versus moving outdoors, and (d) the cultivation of a deeper sense of self and the emotions contributing to the experience. The second level of analysis revealed 7 core themes: Gratitude, joy/surprise, grief and death, the Divine/God/sacred-mystical-mystery/larger self, connections to Nature/Nature elements, the transpersonal, and integration/acceptance. A final cohesive synthesis unveiled 4 significant components (transformation, emotion, nature, and integration) shared by each coresearcher. These suggested that the lived experiences offered both a process and outcome that implied that the practice of authentic movement offered a transformative potential when practiced in nature.</p>