Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-139). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-119). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99159

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1985 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / The creative process of the visual artist is an untapped source of knowledge-based systems which can extend the capabilities of AI in understanding how to develop new algorithms for space perception, pattern recognition, and data compression. This report focuses on the artist’s analysis of the multi-dimensional levels of unconscious, visual ideation which precede the conscious level of symbolic coding. interaction of all the senses is examined, as are the functions of gravity and time as the fundamental reference points for pattern recognition. An exercise in ‘Image Evoking’ is described. Recommendations are given for applications to future research in AI.

Although there is a wealth of knowledge on categorization in infancy, there are still many unanswered questions about the nature of category representation in infancy. For example, it is yet unclear whether categories in infancy have well-defined boundaries or what knowledge about species categories young infants have before entering the lab. Using a morphing technique, we linearly altered the proportion of cat versus dog in images and observed how infants reacted to contrasts between pairs of images that either did or did not cross over the categorical boundary. This was done while equating between-category and within-category similarity. Results indicate that infants’ pre-existing categories of cats and dogs are discrete and mutually exclusive. Experiment 2 found that inversion caused a disruption in processing by 6.5- but not 3.5- month-old infants, indicating a developmental change in category representation. These findings demonstrate a propensity to dichotomize early in life that could have implications for social categorizations, such as race and gender. Furthermore, this work extends previous knowledge of infant categorical perception by demonstrating a priori knowledge of familiar species categories and the boundaries between them.

Several experiments are presented to evaluate the development of visuo-spatial short term memory from childhood to old age (from five-year-olds to about 70-year-olds). Visuospatial short term memory was assessed through transformational imagery tasks. The first set of experiments (chapters 3, 4 and 5) concerned the development of mental rotation abilities. A review of the literature suggested that young children (specifically so-called preoperational children) and elderly people are poor at rotating a mental image of a visual pattern. However, as some mental rotation abilities have been reported while using Shepard's paradigm, attention was focussed on the role of the first steps necessarily taken while performing a mental rotation task, specifically the maintenance of a visual pattern in STM. The second set of experiments (chapter 6) considered another imagery subsystem, namely "mental scanning". Like mental rotation, it requires the maintenance of a visual pattern in short term memory. Image maintenance ability has been assessed in reference to Kosslyn's (1994) model although Baddeley's (1986) working memory model- specifically, Logie's (1995) revision of the VSSP - has been sometimes considered while interpreting the data. These two different theoretical models suggest the existence of two related but different subsystems for sorting visual and spatial information. Most of the data presented in this thesis suggest that young children and the elderly have some difficulties maintaining spatial characteristics of a visual pattern in short term memory, i.e. the orientation of the stimulus in the mental rotation tasks and the location of targets in the mental scanning tasks. These results tend to provide some developmental evidence for a dissociation between the dorsal and ventral subsystems. It seems that the two subsystems develop at different speeds. The ventral subsystem might be better developed earlier than the dorsal subsystem. Similarly, some data suggest that the same ventral system is not yet affected by ageing when the dorsal subsystem has already begun to deteriorate.

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

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