When studying how companies differentiate from their competitors, corporate image can play a main role in this aspect. The aim of this study is to observe and analyse the perception by the consumers of the corporate image of two groceries companies.This perception can lead to a competitive position in the marketplace by outperforming competitors in all the areas of corporate image. Thus, it can be observed how both companies are differentiated in the mind of the consumers in a different way.

The human visual system comprises two neural pathways, the magnocellular/M and parvocellular/P pathways that process aspects of motion and form perception, respectively. Amblyopia is a developmental condition which may affect an otherwise healthy eye if it experiences abnormal visual stimulation due to ocular misalignment (strabismus), unequal refractive errors (anisometropia), or both. Amblyopia has been associated with deficits in both form and motion perception. Random-dot kinematograms (RDKs) which are created by shifting a computer-generated dot display in one direction by a given displacement can be used to assess motion processing. Maximum motion displacement (Dmax) is the largest dot displacement at which the direction of motion for a RDK can be correctly discriminated. Strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia represent two distinct subtypes of amblyopia and have been proposed to have different neural substrates. They have also been reported to have different Dmax deficits (Ho et al., 2005). The intentions of this thesis were: 1) to characterize deficits in Dmax for direction discrimination in the fellow and amblyopic eyes of participants with anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia using psychophysical methods; and 2) to investigate the relationship between psychophysical Dmax deficits and dysfunction in motion-sensitive extrastriate cortex of the M pathway using functional MRI techniques. The psychophysical results showed that Dmax thresholds are smaller in both amblyopic and fellow eyes for both subtypes of amblyopia relative to controls, although the deficits were greatest for strabismic amblyopia. Functional MRI results revealed decreased extrastriate cortical activation in both the strabismic and anisometropic groups relative to the control group when either eye viewed the RDK stimulus, although the lack of cortical activation was greatest for strabismic amblyopia. Taken together, this evidence suggests that dysfunctional binocular motion processing mechanisms in extrastriate cortex are part of the neural deficit underlying anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia and implies that strabismic amblyopia may be affected to a greater degree. For both amblyopic groups, there was a robust correlation between depth perception (stereoacuity) and Dmax thresholds. Specifically, direction discrimination was better when stereoacuity was worse. Abnormal binocular integration may have a significant role in predicting motion deficits in both anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia.

The purpose of this study was to investigate, under experimental conditions, the effect of a laboratory experience on self-acceptance and internal-external control with academically deficient college students as compared with Regular students.The ninety subjects in this study were all undergraduate students at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. The study was conducted during the spring of 1978.Two sections of the Career and Life Planning course, Counseling Psychology 110, were designated as control groups; and, two other sections were designated as experimental groups. One section of the control group sections contained Academic Opportunity Program students; and, one section contained regular students. The same was true for the experimental group. The experimental groups participated with a vital peer in six one hour laboratory sessions over a six week period. Each week's laboratory session consisted of an experiential exercise and a group discussion. The feedback by the subjects and vital peers utilized guidelines delineated by Brammer.The data collected for each subject was the total score obtained on the Personal Orientation Self-Acceptance Scale and Rotter's Internal-External Scale. Each subject was administered a pre-test and post-test of each instrument.The effects of the treatment were analyzed through the use of a 2 X 2 multivariate analysis of covariance. The pre-test scores were used as a covariate.An F-test was used to test the parallelism of regression hyperplanes. This test-examined the homogeneity of the mean factors; and the results indicated the groups were parallel. The implications for this test indicated that the results could be interpreted directly.Two null hypotheses were stated. The first null hypothesis stated that there would be no significant difference between the A.O.P. subjects and the Regular subjects on the P.O.I. (Sa) Scale. This hypothesis was not rejected at the .05 level. The second hypothesis stated that there would be no significant difference between the A.O.P. subjects and the Regular subjects on the I-E Scale. This hypothesis was not rejected at the .05 level. A significant multivariate F (F=4.43, P.<.05) did occur when comparing all of-the A.O.P. subjects scores and all of the Regular subjects' scores. The univariate F which had an effect on the multivariate F was the P.O.I. (Sa) Scale (F=7.42, P.<.01).It was concluded from this study that:this treatment, with this population, in this time frame and measured by the P.O.I. (Sa) Scale, did not produce significance between the Experimental and Control groups.2. this treatment, with this population, in this time frame and measured by the I-E Scale, did not produce significance between the Experimental and Control groups.3. A.O.P. and Regular subject groups in this study experienced an increased overall mean on the Post P.O.I. (Sa) Scale.4, based on the correlation matrix which was constructed, the P.O.I. (Sa) Scale and the I-E Scale were found to measure separate factors.The results of this study and subjective observations indicated several areas which may be worthy of further exploration.1. This study needs to be replicated where the time periods could be extended to an hour and one-half to provide more time for the individual laboratory experiences.It is recommended that two groups of subjects be used which are not enrolled in the Career and Life Planning class.3. Although the measurement instruments used in this study are frequently used in research, it might be advisable to replicate this study using a different measurement which may be more sensative.4. Since the purpose of this study was to establish a need for further research, this research might be geared towards creating an instrument that does evaluate the effects of a V.P. feedback process.5. A 12 hour marathon group may provide additional and different information than the six week laboratory experience.6. Board games similar to the Ungame and Lifestyle may be added to the laboratory experiences. The subjective responses indicated subject popularity which may influence self-acceptance and/or internal-external control.

The way in which subjects of different ages copy a complex design gives an indication of the relative levels of visual perception and the related developmental trend of overall cognitive development and left-right hemispheric functioning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of severe to profound hearing loss on the above perceptive abilities. The subjects were chosen from the Oregon State School for the Deaf in Salem and ranged in age from 8 to 17. Additional personal characteristics were documented: sex, degree of hearing loss, age of onset of deafness, cause of deafness, other handicapping conditions, and handedness. The subjects were asked to first copy the Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure and then reproduce it from memory. Scores were derived from the graphic strategies used to initially start both reproductions, complete the initial drawing, and from the accuracy and error measurements. The hypotheses were formulated which allowed cross-tabulations between each of the scores and each of the personal characteristics. The results were subjected to chi-square tests, the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and two- and three-way analyses of variance. Differences were significant at the p < .10 level. The age of the subjects proved to be the most significant factor in the study. The youngest group used adult strategies to complete the drawing, but with more errors than would be expected from adults. Loss of efficiency was noted with the 11-13 year old group and then the expected trend of increased sophistication in perception with advanced age proved true for the three older age groups. It was suggested that the early dependence on vision in lieu of auditory stimulation was responsible for the early strengths of the youngest group. Also right-handed subjects used more complex graphic strategies than did the left-handed subjects. This finding was expected based on other studies concerning cerebral assymetries relative to handedness. The sex of the subject, however, had no main effect on the results. Some interactions among variables were noted. There were no significant differences relative to age, onset, degree of hearing loss, etilogy, or other handicapping conditions. / Graduation date: 1985

My thesis is a collection of philosophical essays on the sense of touch. I argue first that touch is much like vision in being unisensory. (This has often been denied). But it is unlike vision in displaying a duality of the proximal and the distal, since it informs us both of the condition of our own bodies, and of the properties of external things. My account of this duality is unorthodox, since I argue that we do not sense distant objects in virtue of sensing the condition of our own bodies. Both forms of touch involve exploratory action—both are forms of haptic perception—but the nature of this involvement is unclear. I defend the view that haptic perceptions are haptic explorations. I first clarify this thesis, then distinguish it from other views, like those of Alva Noë and Susan Hurley, that posit a strong link between action and perception. Despite this interactive nature, touch may seem more constrained than vision and audition in requiring direct bodily contact with objects in the world. I argue against this view, and show that through touch we are capable of sensing objects that are not, and are not perceived as being, in direct contact with our bodies. Here again, touch is somewhat like vision. The development of this account requires conceptual analysis of a range of important issues in the philosophy of perception, including the nature of multisensory experience, the role of bodily awareness in perception, the relation between action and perception, and the structure of non-visual spatial perception. For instance, because touch involves both coordinated bodily movements and a range of distinct sensory receptors in the skin, it is often thought to be a multisensory form of awareness (especially by psychologists). However, this view relies on an implausible conception of multisensory interaction. In its place, I develop a nuanced hierarchy of multisensory involvement according to which touch is a single modality. This is because the various systems involved in touch all predicate or assign sensory properties to the same tangible objects: when we grasp a mug, for instance, many different tactual properties—shape, warmth, texture, etc.—are all felt to belong to the mug. This is similar to what happens in vision with visual objects: when we see an object, a range of different visual properties, largely processed in functionally-distinct systems—are seen as belonging to it. Another unique aspect of my view is the claim that through touch we can experience distal objects—objects not in direct or even apparent contact with our bodies. I develop a positive account of such touch, arguing that distal touch requires (1) a strong interactive connection between our bodies and the distal object (through tools or other such intermediaries) and (2) that distal objects are represented in touch as located in peripersonal space, the space immediately surrounding our bodies, defined by the limits of our exploratory engagement (by how far we can reach or move). This positive account allows for a more robust account of our embodied experience, and shows that touch—at least in some respects—is more like the other senses than typically supposed.

Objective: To quantify the acceptability of facial asymmetry to plastic surgeons, orthodontists and the lay population. Methods: Facial images were animated with one of six asymmetries: jaw and nasal deviation, interocular distance, ocular height, angulation, and shape. Evaluators were asked to judge the faces based on their visual acceptability. Results: There were no differences between the groups except for in the evaluation of ocular shape. Mandibular deviation of 4mm, and nasal deviation of 3mm was judged as unacceptable. 9% rounder and 18% flatter eyes were considered unacceptable. Hypertelorism and inferior ocular dystopia was unacceptable after a change of 2mm. Hypotelorism and superior vertical dystopia was unacceptable after a change of 2.5mm. Ocular angulations of 5.5 degrees superiorly and 3.5 degrees inferiorly were unacceptable. Conclusions: Plastic surgeons, orthodontists, and lay people find specific facial asymmetries to be unacceptable at similar levels of deviation.

Several models of visual word recognition suggest a processing hierarchy; basic orthographic features are processed early and whole-word representations are processed late in the hierarchy. Unfortunately, given the extreme efficiency of the visual word recognition system, studies typically focus on one specific level of the processing hierarchy (e.g., orthographic, phonological and/or semantic processing). Furthermore, different paradigms are used to study different levels of the hierarchy. Fortunately, data across different studies in the literature do converge to two distinct temporal thresholds for letter perception and whole-word integration. The current experiments assessed the temporal thresholds for both letter perception and whole-word integration using a single novel paradigm. The results demonstrated distinct temporal thresholds for letter perception and whole-word integration which agree with those reported in the literature. Thus, the current experiments provide further behavioral evidence that the visual word recognition is a hierarchical process.

Objective: To quantify the acceptability of facial asymmetry to plastic surgeons, orthodontists and the lay population. Methods: Facial images were animated with one of six asymmetries: jaw and nasal deviation, interocular distance, ocular height, angulation, and shape. Evaluators were asked to judge the faces based on their visual acceptability. Results: There were no differences between the groups except for in the evaluation of ocular shape. Mandibular deviation of 4mm, and nasal deviation of 3mm was judged as unacceptable. 9% rounder and 18% flatter eyes were considered unacceptable. Hypertelorism and inferior ocular dystopia was unacceptable after a change of 2mm. Hypotelorism and superior vertical dystopia was unacceptable after a change of 2.5mm. Ocular angulations of 5.5 degrees superiorly and 3.5 degrees inferiorly were unacceptable. Conclusions: Plastic surgeons, orthodontists, and lay people find specific facial asymmetries to be unacceptable at similar levels of deviation.

Several models of visual word recognition suggest a processing hierarchy; basic orthographic features are processed early and whole-word representations are processed late in the hierarchy. Unfortunately, given the extreme efficiency of the visual word recognition system, studies typically focus on one specific level of the processing hierarchy (e.g., orthographic, phonological and/or semantic processing). Furthermore, different paradigms are used to study different levels of the hierarchy. Fortunately, data across different studies in the literature do converge to two distinct temporal thresholds for letter perception and whole-word integration. The current experiments assessed the temporal thresholds for both letter perception and whole-word integration using a single novel paradigm. The results demonstrated distinct temporal thresholds for letter perception and whole-word integration which agree with those reported in the literature. Thus, the current experiments provide further behavioral evidence that the visual word recognition is a hierarchical process.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how associative and inductive reasoning processes develop over trials in feature positive (FP) and feature negative (FN) discrimination learning. Younger and older adults completed initial and transfer tasks with either consistent or inconsistent transfer. Participants articulated a rule on every trial. The measure of discrimination learning was the number of trials it took participants to articulate the exact rule. In the initial task, older adults articulated the rule more slowly than younger adults in FP discrimination and took marginally more trials to articulate the rule in FN discrimination than younger adults. Age differences were greater in FP discrimination than in FN discrimination learning because younger adults performed well in FP discrimination learning. In the transfer task, older adults articulated the FP rule more slowly than younger adults and both groups articulated the rule more quickly with consistent than inconsistent transfer. Older adults articulated the FN rule slower than older adults. The differences in trials to articulate the FN rule for the two groups were somewhat larger for inconsistent transfer than consistent transfer. Discrimination learning was explained in terms of associative and inductive reasoning processes reasonably well. The measure of associative processes was forgotten responses, whereas the measures of inductive reasoning processes were irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. In FP discrimination learning in the initial task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and marginally more perseverations than younger adults. Therefore, older adults had more difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes than younger adults in FP discrimination. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults. Older and younger adults had a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. Therefore, in FN discrimination older adults had more difficulty with associative processes than younger adults. Both groups had difficulty with inductive reasoning processes. In FP discrimination in the transfer task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and perseverations than younger adults, and these proportions were similar in consistent and inconsistent transfer. Therefore, in FP discrimination older adults had more difficulty than younger adults with both associative and inductive reasoning processes. Both processes were similar with regards to consistent and inconsistent transfer. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults, and the proportion of forgotten responses was greater in inconsistent than in consistent transfer. Both groups made a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts, and there was a marginal difference in consistent and inconsistent transfer for this measure with a greater number in inconsistent transfer. Older adults had a greater proportion of perseverations than younger adults. However, there were no differences in the number of perseverations for consistent and inconsistent transfer. Thus, older adults had difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes. Younger adults' inductive reasoning skills improved. The associative and inductive reasoning processes in FN discrimination were not as efficient in inconsistent transfer as in consistent transfer.