/library/oar/handle/123456789/15398 2025-12-22T20:35:12Z 2025-12-22T20:35:12Z Verbeke, Gil Ellen, Simon Hartsuiker, Robert J. Mitterer, Holger De Cuypere, Ludovic /library/oar/handle/123456789/141011 2025-11-07T15:03:37Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Perceptie van een anderstalig accent : Een experimentele studie naar de perceptieve aanpassing aan een exogeen geaccentueerd Nederlands klinkercontrast Authors: Verbeke, Gil; Ellen, Simon; Hartsuiker, Robert J.; Mitterer, Holger; De Cuypere, Ludovic Abstract: This study examines whether Dutch L1 listeners adapt to Italian accented Dutch vowels, and how short-term experience with one L2 speaker’s accent might help these listeners to understand novel words and other L2 speakers with a similar accent. 100 Belgian Dutch L1 listeners were exposed to 40 Dutch target words, in which the front vowel had been replaced by an ambiguous sound in between /ɪ/ and /i/. These stimuli were produced by a female Italian speaker of Dutch. To assess perceptual adaptation and generalization, participants were asked to identify the vowel in five Dutch /ɪ/-/i/ minimal pairs across two speaker conditions: stimuli were either produced by the same female speaker or by a digitally generated male-sounding speaker. For neither speaker did we find perceptual adaptation, hence no generalization to novel situations could be observed. The results highlight the importance of stimulus selection and the need for a detailed background questionnaire for listeners, including information on their familiarity with L2 accents.

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z Sammut, Gordon Sartawi, Mohammad Bauer, Martin W. Mifsud, Rebekah /library/oar/handle/123456789/138519 2025-09-01T05:44:48Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Worldviews, attitudes to science and science policy in Kuwait : the engagement and mobilisation effects Authors: Sammut, Gordon; Sartawi, Mohammad; Bauer, Martin W.; Mifsud, Rebekah Abstract: The relevance of policymaking stems from its utility in helping social systems manage the output of their constituent members by shaping behavioural and procedural processes. Whilst policymaking might be well-meaning, it does not always lead to satisfactory outcomes. Policy may fail in generating uptake or establishing intent. For this reason, the study of the psychological characteristics of citizens is pertinent in understanding reactions to policy. In the present study, we analysed policy communication and reception in Kuwait in terms of the worldviews they advance. We also studied media responses and worldview distributions amongst the public (n = 1400). Our findings demonstrate both within and between worldview differences in reactions to science policy. We observed an engagement effect between worldviews and their appreciation of science policy. We also observed a within worldviews mobilisation effect, by which differential reactions to science policy are activated once engaged. Our conclusions suggest that policymakers would benefit from a broader management of worldviews and psychological characteristics beyond traditional sociodemographic influences.

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z Chuang, Lewis L. Vuong, Quoc C. Thornton, Ian M. Bülthoff, Heinrich H. /library/oar/handle/123456789/136286 2025-06-09T13:09:22Z 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Recognising novel deforming objects Authors: Chuang, Lewis L.; Vuong, Quoc C.; Thornton, Ian M.; Bülthoff, Heinrich H. Abstract: Visual object perception is dynamic as the result of an active observer or movement in the environment. Nonetheless, contemporary theories of object recognition commonly focus on how objects are represented in terms of their static properties, e.g., shape. When the contribution of motion has been considered, it has typically been with regards to how rigid rotation in depth could facilitate the reconstruction of an object’s static 3-D shape (e.g., Ullman, 1979). Here, we propose that human observers represent an object’s dynamic properties as a cue to its identity, independent of its contribution to shape perception. This information may facilitate recognition when shape information is less reliable, e.g., viewpoint variations.

2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Kristjánsson, Tómas Thornton, Ian M. Kristjánsson, Árni /library/oar/handle/123456789/136284 2025-06-09T12:58:12Z 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Time limits during visual foraging reveal flexible working memory templates Authors: Kristjánsson, Tómas; Thornton, Ian M.; Kristjánsson, Árni Abstract: During difficult foraging tasks, humans rarely switch between target categories, but switch frequently during easier foraging. Does this reflect fundamental limits on visual working memory (VWM) capacity or simply strategic choice due to effort? Our participants performed time-limited or unlimited foraging tasks where they tapped stimuli from 2 target categories while avoiding items from 2 distractor categories. These time limits should have no effect if capacity imposes limits on VWM representations but more flexible VWM could allow observers to use VWM according to task demands in each case. We found that with time limits, participants switched more frequently and switch-costs became much smaller than during unlimited foraging. Observers can therefore switch between complex (conjunction) target categories when needed. We propose that while maintaining many complex templates in working memory is effortful and observers avoid this, they can do so if this fits task demands, showing the flexibility of working memory representations used for visual exploration. This is in contrast with recent proposals, and we discuss the implications of these findings for theoretical accounts of working memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z