The goal of this dissertation was to bridge the gap between perceptual learning theory and training application. Visual perceptual skill has been a vexing topic in training science for decades. In complex task domains, from aviation to medicine, visual perception is critical to task success. Despite this, little, if any, emphasis is dedicated to developing perceptual skills through training. Much of this may be attributed to the perceived inefficiency of perceptual training. Recent applied research in perceptual training with discrimination training, however, holds promise for improved perceptual training efficiency. As with all applied research, it is important to root application in solid theoretical bases. In perceptual learning, the challenge is connecting the basic science to more complex task environments. Using a common aviation task as an applied context, participants were assigned to a perceptual training condition based on variation of image complexity and training type. Following the training, participants were tested for transfer of skill. This was intended to help to ground a potentially useful method of perceptual training in a model category learning, while offering qualitative testing of model fit in increasingly complex visual environments. Two hundred and thirty-one participants completed the computer based training module. Results indicate that predictions of a model of category learning largely extend into more complex training stimuli, suggesting utility of the model in more applied contexts. Although both training method conditions showed improvement across training blocks, the discrimination training condition did not transfer to the post training transfer tasks. Lack of adequate contextual information related to the transfer task in training was attributed to this outcome. Further analysis of the exposure training condition showed that iv individuals training with simple stimuli performed as well as individuals training on more complex stimuli in a complex transfer task. On the other hand, individuals in the more complex training conditions were less accurate when presented with a simpler representation of the task in transfer. This suggests training benefit to isolating essential task cues from irrelevant information in perceptual judgment tasks. In all, the study provided an informative look at both the theory and application associated with perceptual category learning. Ultimately, this research can help inform future research and training development in domains where perceptual judgment is critical for success.

No description available.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis is concerned with describing and experimentally investigating the nature of perceptual learning. Ecological psychology defines perceptual learning as a process of educating attention to structural properties of stimuli (i.e., invariants) that specify meaning (i.e., affordances) to the perceiver. Although such definition comprehensively describes the questions of what humans learn to perceive, it does not address the question of how learning occurs. It is proposed in this thesis that the principles of classical and operant conditioning can be used to strengthen and expand the ecological account of perceptual learning. The perceptual learning of affordances is described in terms of learning that a stimulus is associated with another stimulus (classical conditioning), and in terms of learning that interacting with a stimulus is associated with certain consequences (operant conditioning). Empirical work in this thesis investigated the effect of conditioning on pitch and speech perception. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 were designed to modify pitch perception in Shepard tones via tone-colour associative training. During training, Shepard tones were paired with coloured circles in a way that the colour of the circles could be predicted by either the F0 (pitch) or by an F0-irrelevant auditory invariant. Participants were required to identify the colour of the circles that was associated with the tones and they received corrective feedback. Hypotheses were based on the assumption that F0-relevant/F0- irrelevant conditioning would increase/decrease the accuracy of pitch perception in Shepard tones. Experiment 1 investigated the difference between F0-relevant and F0- irrelevant conditioning in a between-subjects design, and found that pitch perception in the two conditions did not differ. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated the effect of F0- relevant and F0-irrelevant conditioning (respectively) on pitch perception using a within subjects (pre-test vs. post-test) design. It was found that the accuracy of pitch perception increased after F0-relevant conditioning, and was unaffected by F0-irrelevant conditioning. The differential trends observed in Experiments 2 and 3 suggest that conditioning played some role in influencing pitch perception. However, the question whether the observed trends were due to the facilitatory effect of F0-relevant conditioning or the inhibitory effect of F0-irrelevant conditioning warrants future investigation. Experiments 4, 5, and 6 were designed to modify the perception of McGurk syllables (i.e., auditory /b/ paired with visual /g/) via consonant-pitch associative training. During training, participants were repeatedly presented with /b/, /d/, and /g/ consonants in falling, flat, and rising pitch contours, respectively. Pitch contour was paired with either the auditory signal (Experiments 4 and 5) or the visual signal (Experiment 6) of the consonant. Participants were required to identify the stop consonants and they received corrective feedback. The perception of McGurk stimuli was tested before and after training by asking participants to identify the stop consonant in each stimulus as /b/ or /d/ or /g/. It was hypothesized that conditioning would increase (1) /b/ responses more in the falling than in the flat/ rising contour conditions, (2) /d/ responses more in the flat than in the falling/ rising contour conditions, and (3) /g/ responses more in the rising than in the falling/flat contour conditions. Support for the hypotheses was obtained in Experiments 5 and 6, but only in one response category (i.e., /b/ and /g/ response categories, respectively). It is suggested that the subtlety of the observed conditioning effect could be enhanced by increasing the salience of pitch contour and by reducing the clarity of auditory/visual invariants that specify consonants. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine the outcome of repetitive-part training and dual-task training in the acquisition of dribbling technique and decision making in prepubescent novice soccer players. Method: Twenty four preschool pupils, with an age of 6.2 ± 0.4 years (mean ± SD) and with no previous experience of partaking in any organized team or ball sport participated in the study. The participants were tested (pre test) for initial performance level of dribbling technique and decision making and were then divided into two balanced experimental groups. The repetitive-part group underwent four weeks of part-task training (isolated dribbling-technique training) which were followed by four weeks of dual-task training (simultaneous training of dribbling technique and decision making). The dual-task group underwent eight weeks of dual-task training. The outcome in acquisition of dribbling technique and decision making was examined after four (mid test) and eight (post test) weeks of training. Both training regimes were followed by four weeks of non-training and thereafter a test (retention test) of the retention effects was carried out. Effect sizes (d) of the acquisition within each group and of the difference in performance and acquisition between the two groups were evaluated based on Cohen's effect size criteria (|d| > 0.2, small effect; |d| > 0.5, moderate effect; |d| > 0.8, large effect). Results: Between the pre and mid test, both groups showed large improvements in dribbling technique. The corresponding improvement was small in the repetitive-part group and moderate in the dual-task group between the mid and post test. There were large differences between the groups' decision-making performances at the mid, post, and retention test where the dual-task group was superior to the repetitive-part group. The dual task group showed large improvements of decision making between the pre and mid test. Between the mid and post test, the corresponding effect was large within the repetitive-part group and moderate in the dual-task group. The improvement of the dual-task group's decision making between the pre and mid test was greater than the corresponding improvement showed by the repetitive-part group, between the mid and post test. This difference produced a moderate effect size. Conclusions: These findings challenge conventional repetitive-part training regimes and, with references to previous research, emphasize the importance of dual-task training for skill acquisition in prepubescent novice soccer players.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-101). Also available in print.

Everyday speech perception frequently occurs in degraded listening conditions, against a background of noise, interruptions and intermingling voices. Despite these challenges, speech perception is remarkably successful, due in part to perceptual learning. Previous research has demonstrated more rapid perceptual learning of acoustically-degraded speech when listeners are given the opportunity to map the linguistic content of utterances, presented in clear auditory form, onto the degraded auditory utterance. Here, I investigate whether learning is further enhanced by the provision of naturalistic facial gestural information, presented concurrently with either the clear auditory sentence (Experiment I), or with the degraded utterance (Experiment II). Recorded materials were noise-vocoded (4 frequency channels; 50- 8000 Hz). Noise-vocoding (NV) is a popular simulation of speech transduced through a cochlear implant, and 4-channel NV speech is difficult for naïve listeners to understand, but can be learned over several sentences of practice. In Experiment I, each trial began with an auditory-alone presentation of a degraded stimulus for report (D). In two conditions, this was followed by passive listening to either the clear spoken form and then the degraded form again (condition DCD), or the reverse (DDC); the former format of presentation (DCD) results in more efficient learning (Davis et al, 2005). Condition DCvD was similar to DCD, except that the clear spoken form was accompanied by facial gestural information (a talking face). The results indicate that presenting clear audiovisual feedback (DCvD) does not confer any advantage over clear auditory feedback (DCD). In Experiment II, two groups received a degraded sentence presentation with corresponding facial movements (Dv); the second group also received a second degraded (auditory-alone) presentation (DvD). Two control conditions and a baseline DCvD condition were also tested. Although they never received clear speech feedback, performance in the DvD group was significantly greater than in all others, indicating that perceptual learning mechanisms can capitalize on visual concomitants of speech. The DvD group outperformed the Dv group, suggesting that the second degraded presentation in the DvD condition further facilitates generalization of learning. These findings have important implications for improving comprehension of speech in an unfamiliar accent or following cochlear implantation. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-01 16:50:58.923

Gamification is an emerging phenomenon that has been advocated for its potential to improve organisational outcomes. The present study aimed to examine the effect of gamification in a perceptual diagnosis task. Forty participants completed a 22-minute visual search task. To investigate the role of game mechanics participants were divided into four conditions resulting from the factorial combination of the narrative mechanic (narrative and control condition) and the points mechanic (Points and no-points control condition). Attention effort, motivation, and work engagement were measured through performance metrics, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and self-report questionnaires. The results revealed points significantly increased task performance while narrative significantly increased intrinsic motivation and prefrontal oxygenation. These findings may provide much needed contributions to the literature surrounding gamification. It was also revealed that fNIRS measures of frontal activation may be a reasonable objective indicator of initial cognitive effort. This presents significant real world applications for objectively measuring motivation.

This study was designed to measure if a teacher’s intentional interventions during sensory play had an impact on the emotional development of preschoolers. The aspects of emotional development measured were the ability of children to recognize and label the expressed emotions of others and the frequency of self regulatory, aggressive, and non-aggressive problem solving behaviors. Data was collected from a control group and an experimental group using two self designed research instruments. Results were analyzed using multi-variant analysis indicating no significant difference in behavior changes by group. While quantitative data indicates no significant change at a class wide level, accounts of individual children illuminate the need for further research on this topic. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences