bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Monuments of the Hittite and Neo-Assyrian Empires During the Late Bronze and Iron Ages
Authors: Osborne James F.
Published: June 2017

Chapter 5 engages with the Hittite and Assyrian monuments that are some of our oldest as well as most spectacular evidence for communications. For his discussion, Osborne exploits two interpretative concepts, one that he terms “relationality,” and the other, known as “costly signaling theory,” imported from recent work in evolutionary anthropology. Relationality calls for reckoning with changes over time in how a monument communicates messages and how it is perceived; costly signaling theory serves to explain why some monuments communicate more effectively if they are large and expensive. Both concepts assist in analyzing the ideological content of the monumental royal sculptures that form Osborne’s focus.
Communicating with Images in the Roman Empire
Authors: Trimble Jennifer
Published: June 2017

This chapter explores how the size, diversity, and connectivity of the Roman Empire in the first centuries CE fostered developments in image communication in a civilization in which levels of visual literacy, especially among city populations, should be considered quite well developed. At the same time, a full grasp of a monument’s iconography was not essential for effective communication at a range of levels. A remarkable, seemingly modern phenomenon of the period is the proliferation and stability of image use, enabling complex, varied interplays of empire and place to be articulated in all segments of society, with or without the involvement of the authorities.
Cross-Cultural Communication in Egypt
Authors: Manning J. G.
Published: June 2017

This chapter offers a paradigmatic case of cross-cultural communication from ancient Egypt. Because it was pictographic, Egyptian hieroglyphic script combined the literary and the visual in a way that rendered communication both a priestly privilege and a royal one. It was an important public phenomenon, too, analyzed here in terms of transaction costs. Commonly applied to the study of the ancient economy, the nature and extent of transaction costs explain why and how the pharaohs made use of monuments and decrees to unify a diverse society. The use of hieroglyphics did not prevent the use of other scripts as well, and in Late Antiquity, Egypt became partly bilingual. Bilingualism, which had always existed in major ancient marketplaces and at royal courts, now became widespread.
Introduction
Authors: Morrell Kit
Published: June 2017

This chapter explores the programme Pompey implemented as consul in 70 to address the related problems of exploitation in the provinces and corruption in the courts. It is suggested that Pompey did not intend to change the composition of juries. Instead, his solution consisted of the election of censors to remove the senate’s most corrupt members; a call for stricter trials, starting with the ‘show trial’ of Gaius Verres; and the promotion of better standards of provincial governance. The key evidence comes from Cicero’s Verrines: Pompey backed the prosecution of Verres both for the sake of his Sicilian clients and as part of his broader programme for the provinces, and Cicero’s speeches reflect Pompey’s policy. Pompey’s refusal of his consular province and legislation subsequently put in place by the tribunes of 67 can also be understood in connection with Pompey’s programme of provincial reform.
Rethinking How We Define and Measure 21st Century Skills
Authors: Kyllonen Patrick C.
Published: June 2017

This chapter reviews three chapters concerned with the definition and measurement of 21st skills. Technology and other factors cause jobs to change, and so it is reasonable that the skills required in the workforce also change. Employer surveys suggest that communication, teamwork, leadership, work ethic, and problem solving are sought-after skills for new hires. The three chapters contribute to our understanding of workforce readiness by summarizing existing findings and suggesting new fertile research areas, including improving measurement of 21st century skills and focusing particular attention on the constructs leadership, teamwork, creativity, and cross-cultural competency. The chapters also point to the importance of both teaching these skills in school and the workplace and monitoring their growth and development.
Preparing Students for Workplace Diversity
Authors: Lester Jaime , Kravitz David A. , Klein Carrie N.
Published: June 2017

The 21st century workplace is becoming increasingly diverse and global in context. This creates a need for multiculturally competent employees who can work well with people of different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. Higher education is uniquely situated to provide students with opportunities for cross-cultural and diverse interactions and for personal and professional development in multicultural competence. This chapter focuses on the social and emotional challenges posed by the increasing globalization of business as well as the increasing diversity of the workforce and in higher education. We argues for the importance of diversity in the workforce; describes how diversity is present on campus; and makes recommendations for how that diversity can be leveraged to train, develop, and prepare the workforce of tomorrow.
Interests and Person–Environment Fit
Authors: Su Rong , Nye Christopher D.
Published: June 2017

The search for “noncognitive” skills essential for workforce readiness has largely overlooked one important individual difference domain: interests. This chapter reviews evidence for the relationship between interests and job performance, career success, and academic achievement. It also discusses two mechanisms through which interests can predict a range of educational and work outcomes. First, interests serve as a source of intrinsic motivation that drives the direction, effort, and persistence of human behaviors. Specifically, interests contribute to learning and the acquisition of job knowledge, which are direct determinants of academic and job performance. Second, interests capture the relationship, or the fit, between a person and an environment. The degree of person–environment fit in terms of interests, or interest congruence, predicts academic and work outcomes above and beyond individual interest scores alone. In closing, the chapter discusses the implications of using interest assessments for educational and career guidance and for personnel selection.
In the Image of God
Authors: Kent Bonnie
Published: June 2017

Christian writings from late antiquity through the Middle Ages have much to say about the dignity of various beings but little to say about the dignity that all humans have simply because they are human. Few authors of the Latin West used the biblical account of creation to argue for the kind of human dignity we often hear about today. Why? This chapter argues that two factors do much to explain their silence. First, patristic and medieval authors believed that God made angels as well as humans in his image, so that humans were not the sole creatures endowed with understanding, will, and free choice. Second, most authors thought that human nature was badly deformed by the Fall and needed to be reformed in the likeness of Christ. They focused less on creation than salvation, an end they believed attainable only through the grace of baptism and God-given virtues.
Dignity, Vile Bodies, and Nakedness
Authors: Copenhaver Brian
Published: June 2017

Although Giovanni Pico della Mirandola has been called the most important voice for human dignity of postmedieval times, he had nothing to say about this concept—neither its ancient and medieval versions nor, of course, the modern, post-Kantian notion. Pico’s celebrated Oration on the Dignity of Man was not given that title by its author. However, a near contemporary who revised older concepts of dignitas—like Cicero’s—was Giannozzo Manetti. Unlike Pico, Manetti also confronted the best-known medieval statement on the topic, by Cardinal Lothario dei Segni. From earlier Christian traditions, the cardinal inherited—and aggravated—a harshly ascetic view of the human condition. Although Manetti repeats some of this Christian pessimism, his attitudes toward the body and human agency are remarkably less dismal. Today, if we ignore Manetti and misread Pico, our philosophical understanding of dignitas and its progeny suffers.
Dignity
Authors: Sensen Oliver
Published: June 2017

It is commonly thought that Kant introduced a new conception of dignity into philosophy. According to this interpretation, “dignity” is the name for an absolute inner value all human beings possess, and having dignity is the reason why one ought to be respected by others. This chapter argues that Kant uses a more traditional notion of dignity instead. He conceives of dignity as a special form of rank, an elevation of one thing over another. What is revolutionary in Kant’s account is his notion of autonomy, in that he grounds the requirement to respect others on a Categorical Imperative of one’s own reason. The chapter presents the general meaning of Kant’s conception of dignity, distinguishes his four main uses of this notion, analyzes his justification for the claim that all human beings should be respected, and sums up the differences between Kant’s conception of dignity and the contemporary one.
Where Have All the Illusions Gone?
Authors: Rogers Brian
Published: June 2017

It might sound perverse to question the concept of illusion in a book titled The Compendium of Visual Illusions—not least because the idea of illusions and illusory perception has been around for at least two millennia—but that is the purpose of this chapter. Put simply, this chapter argues the case that there is no satisfactory way of distinguishing between “veridical” and “illusory” perception and hence we are forced to regard either all of our perceptions as illusory or none of them. The two main questions addressed are: How should we identify what is the objective reality or truth from which our illusory perception is discrepant? And is there a satisfactory definition of an illusion that allows us to distinguish between those aspects of perception that are illusory and those that are veridical?
“Shape From Smear”
Authors: Fleming Roland W. , Holtmann-Rice Daniel
Published: June 2017

Of the many mysteries of sensory perception, one of the greatest is surely our ability to see in three dimensions. While the world is 3D, the retinal images are 2D: So how does the brain work out the extra dimension? Under ordinary conditions, viewing the world with two eyes provides rich sources of information for inferring depths. However, we are also very good at working out 3D shape even from single, static photographs of objects. This chapter presents a novel illusion in which 2D patterns appear vividly 3D, revealing specific image information that the brain uses for inferring 3D shape, based on the way texture appears distorted in the image.
The Picture Surface Illusion
Authors: Hammad Sherief , Kennedy John M.
Published: June 2017

Two-dimensional angles on a picture surface are misperceived. Angles of 40º to 65º and 120º to 160º in a quadrilateral depicting the top of a cube are heavily biased toward the pictured angle (90º). The illusion is likely due to 3D information (e.g., eccentricity depicting foreshortening). Information for the picture surface lessens the effect. Information on the picture surface illusion is covered in this chapter, including the related concepts of 3D and 2D biases and the effect of parameters. The chapter concludes that drawing is likely to be affected by the picture surface illusion, especially in copying a picture. When a V shape in a drawing is surrounded with features suggesting 3D, the V shape will change its apparent shape.
Cast Shadow Illusions
Authors: Kersten Daniel , Mamassian Pascal
Published: June 2017

Cast shadows are present in almost every scene we view, yet very little is known about how the brain processes them. On the one hand, shadows can interfere with the visual ability to recognize objects, while on the other hand, they provide critical information for where objects are in a scene. Because shadows can provide compelling cues for location in depth, these cues can overcome other competing sources of information, resulting in illusions. By studying shadow illusions, one can gain insight into the built-in assumptions the brain has about the nature of illumination and its interaction with the surfaces we view each day.
The Invisible Saddle, or the Cap-or-Cup Illusion
Authors: Koenderink Jan , van Doorn Andrea , Wagemans Johan
Published: June 2017

The linear luminance gradient in a circular disk has become a standard example of the “shape from shading cue” in vision science. It is generally supposed to give rise to one of three possible 3D responses, namely “flat” (cue does not work), “cap” (or convexity), or “cup (concavity). From the perspective of ecological optics, there is an infinite set of possibilities, one of which, “saddle,” has—to the best of our knowledge—never been suggested by any human observer. Bayesian convictions do not come to the rescue, because saddles are actually more frequent than caps or cups. The “illusion” is a strong one, because even if we know (e.g., have programmed it) to look at a saddle, we will see a cap (mostly) or cup (sometimes). Thus not only is the shading cue infinitely ambiguous; it is associated with an extreme bias, which might properly be considered an aphasia (soul blindness).
Geometric Illusions in the Human Face and Body
Authors: Morikawa Kazunori
Published: June 2017

Clothing and cosmetic makeup take advantage of visual illusions so as to make the human body and face look more attractive. This chapter lists such real-life geometric illusions and reviews studies that psychophysically measured them. These illusions include the Müller-Lyer illusion, the Helmholtz illusion, the Delboeuf illusion, the “bicolor” illusion, the “shape echo” illusion, and perceptual completion. Puzzling characteristics of these bodily illusions, which can be called “biological illusions,” are discussed. The ways in which geometric illusions in the human face and body differ from classical geometric illusions consisting of simple lines are also discussed, and the concept of “biological motion” as a separate field is proposed.
The Occlusion, Configural Shape, and Shrinkage Illusions
Authors: Palmer Stephen E. , Schloss Karen B.
Published: June 2017

A suite of three related visual illusions of size and shape are described—the occlusion illusion (OI), configural shape illusion (CSI), and shrinkage illusion (SI)—along with the relations among them. All can be produced by simple geometric arrangements of two overlapping rectangular surfaces. They differ in the direction of their effects, however, with the OI and CSI making regions appear larger and the SI making them appear smaller. Evidence is also described suggesting that different mechanisms underlie them, with the OI caused by partial modal filling-in along an occluding edge and the CSI and SI by assimilation of edge positions to configually relevant borders.
The Geometric-Optical Illusions of J. J. Oppel
Authors: Todorović Dejan
Published: June 2017

J. J. Oppel is usually credited for initiating the scientific study of illusions in the mid-nineteenth century. However, his actual work remains largely unknown. This chapter presents a number of his designs and argues that they are precursors of several later published and now classical illusions. Oppel’s related works include papers published in Jahresbericht des physikalischen Vereins zu Frankfurt am Main in the 1850s and 1860s, as well as in Annalen der Physik in 1871. Concepts discussed include geometrical-optical illusions; the Müller-Lyer illusion; position illusions of Thiéry, Wundt, and Judd; and the Zöllner illusion. Oppel’s work is further described through various figures and diagrams that illustrate these points.
The Oppel–Kundt Illusion
Authors: Wackermann Jiří
Published: June 2017

A line segment, subdivided into smaller parts, appears longer than an undivided line segment of the same length. This phenomenon is known as “Oppel–Kundt illusion,” also named “illusion of interrupted extent” or “filled space illusion,” is a classic example of so-called “geometric-optical illusions.” It was described about 150 years ago but it is still insufficiently explored and not well understood. This chapter provides an overview of the research into the Oppel–Kundt illusion, summarizes the most important empirical findings and explanatory approaches, and points out relations to other illusory phenomena. The chapter also discusses results of recent original research.
The Shifted-Chessboard Pattern as Paradigm of the Exegesis of Geometrical-Optical Illusions
Authors: Westheimer Gerald
Published: June 2017

The shifted chessboard or café wall illusion yields to analysis at the two poles of the practice of vision science: bottom-up, pursuing its course from the visual stimulus into the front end of the visual apparatus, and top-down, figuring how the rules governing perception might lead to it. Following the first approach, examination of the effects of light spread in the eye and of nonlinearity and center-surround antagonism in the retina has made some inroads and provided partial explanations; with respect to the second, principles of perspective and of continuity and smoothness of contours can be evoked, and arguments about perception as Bayesian inference can be joined. Insights from these two directions are helping neurophysiologists in their struggle to identify a neural substrate of the phenomenon Münsterberg described in 1897.
The White Effect
Authors: Blakeslee Barbara , McCourt Mark E.
Published: June 2017

The White effect is an illusion in which gray test patches of identical luminance placed on the black and white bars of a square-wave grating appear different in brightness/lightness. The effect has received much attention because the direction of the brightness change does not correlate with the amount of black or white border in contact with the gray test patch or its general vicinity. The test patch on the black bar appears lighter than the test patch on the white bar despite changes in test patch height or inducing grating spatial frequency. In addition, although the test patch shows a smooth change in brightness/lightness as its spatial position is varied relative to the inducing grating, spatial inhomogeneities in brightness/lightness within the test patch are also visible. A large number of “higher-level” explanations have been offered for the White effect; only the oriented-difference-of-Gaussians model can account for all of these properties.
Illusory Color Spread from Apparent Motion
Authors: Cicerone Carol M. , Hoffman Donald D.
Published: June 2017

Color from motion describes the perception of subjective color that spreads over physically achromatic regions that are seen in apparent motion. Multiple frames are shown in quick succession, each frame composed of a random placement of differently colored dots on an achromatic background. From frame to frame, the locations of all dots are fixed, whereas the color assignments of dots in the test region change. Subjective color can be measured by color matches to and cancellation by real lights, can be seen with chromaticity differences alone in test and surround dots, and is independent of contour formation. In stereoscopic view, the perception of depth, as well as color and form, can be recovered in tandem with seeing motion. This chapter suggests that in natural scenes, mechanisms triggered by motion may reconstruct the depth, color, and form of partially obscured objects so they can be seen as if in plain view.
When Light Looks Like Paint
Authors: Kingdom Frederick A. A.
Published: June 2017

This chapter describes misperceptions of light Occasionally, nonuniform illumination such as a cast shadow, shading, or a spotlight appears to be paint or stain, or even a familiar object: in short, light appears to be “material.” Artists have for a long time been interested in how people distinguish material from illumination in their search for ways to depict shadows and shading, and vision scientists have devoted much effort to understanding how vision distinguishes material from illumination using carefully crafted laboratory stimuli. In this chapter examples are described from the natural visual world as well as from art. The chapter argues that such misperceptions are rational interpretations made by vision when the normal rules for the occurrence of spatially nonuniform illumination are violated. Concepts covered include terminology. Mach card, Hering’s shadow illusion, the Gelb effect, shadow art illusion, chromatic shadow illusion, and shadows that appear as objects.
Grating Induction
Authors: McCourt Mark E. , Blakeslee Barbara
Published: June 2017

Grating induction is a brightness/lightness illusion in which a sinewave luminance grating induces the appearance of a counterphase sinusoidal grating in a homogeneous test field oriented orthogonally to the inducing grating. Induction is greatest at low spatial and temporal frequencies and declines with increasing frequency in both dimensions. Induction magnitude also declines with increasing test field height and scales as the product of inducing grating spatial frequency (c/d) and test field height. These properties of grating induction are difficult to explain using nonfiltering-based models but are readily accounted for by multiscale spatial filtering and lend support to such models of brightness/lightness induction.
On the Watercolor Illusion
Authors: Pinna Baingio
Published: June 2017

The watercolor illusion is a long-range assimilative spread of color emanating from a thin colored line running contiguous to a darker chromatic contour and imparting a figure-ground effect across a large area. The watercolored figure appears evenly colored by an opaque light veil of chromatic tint (coloration effect), with a clear surface color property spreading from the lighter edges. At the same time, the watercolored figure manifests a strong figure-ground organization and a solid figural appearance comparable to a rounded surface segregated in depth which extends out from the flat surface. The complementary region appears as a hole or empty space. The phenomenal properties of coloration and figure-ground effects and their relationship are described and demonstrated. The watercolor illusion and its main effects are discussed in the light of parallel mechanisms. Boundary and surface dynamics are processed by the boundary contour system and by the feature contour system.
The Glare Effect
Authors: Zavagno Daniele , Daneyko Olga
Published: June 2017

The glare effect consists in a strong brightness enhancement of a bright region determined solely by the presence of linear luminance gradients organized in such a way that the bright ends of the gradients delimit the bright region. The effect is obtained with both achromatic and chromatic gradients. In its achromatic version, the illusion has been employed to study the perception of luminosity and the effects of brightness on lightness in simultaneous contrast configurations. The role of photometric gradients and their distribution in space are discussed, with demos showing how luminance gradients can be employed to generate also darkness enhancements and impressions of illumination. A variant of the glare effect is illustrated in which the brightness enhancement is obtained by employing discrete grey steps separated in space, organized to form so-called luminance pseudo-ramps.
Improbable Illusory Contours
Authors: Anderson Barton L.
Published: June 2017

Illusory contours are one of the most widely studied kinds of visual illusion. Illusory contours are often understood as an adaptive response to filling-in missing information created from conditions of camouflage. This chapter describes a new class of very vivid illusory contours that appear impossible to understand as forms of rational inference. It presents a set of illusory contours that emerge in conditions for which there is no missing information or need for their synthesis. It argues that such contours provide a valuable testing ground for both specific theories of illusory contour formation, and general theories of perceptual organization. Videos made specifically for this chapter help illustrate the concepts discussed.
The Rotating Tilted Lines Illusion
Authors: Gori Simone
Published: June 2017

This chapter describes the Rotating-Tilted-Lines illusion , which is a new motion illusion that arises in a circular pattern composed by black, radial lines tilted to the right and presented on a white background. When one approaches the stimulus pattern, the radial lines appear to rotate in the counterclockwise direction, whereas when one recedes from it, they appear to rotate clockwise. It is the simplest pattern able to elicit illusory rotatory motion in presence of physical radial expansion. This surprising misperception of motion seems to be a result of the competition between two motion processing units in the primary visual cortex (V1, V5)
Second-Order Reversed Phi
Authors: Lu Zhong-Lin , Sperling George
Published: June 2017

A second-order reversed-phi stimulus is composed of moving features (areas filled with texture) whose overall amount of texture-contrast is reversed between successive frames. In peripheral vision, the stimulus is perceived as moving in the reversed direction (opposite to the feature displacement). In central vision, it is perceived in the forward direction at low temporal frequencies but in the reversed direction at high temporal frequencies. Moving the observer away from the displays has the same effect as changing from central to periphery vision: reversed motion becomes more dominant. The illusion demonstrates the different properties of the second- and third-order motion systems.
Two-Stroke Apparent Motion
Authors: Mather George
Published: June 2017

“Two-stroke” apparent motion is a powerful illusion of directional motion generated by alternating just two animation frames, which occurs when a brief blank interframe interval is inserted at alternate frame transitions. This chapter discusses this illusion, which can be explained in terms of the receptive field properties of motion-sensing neurons in the human visual system. The temporal response of these neurons contains both an excitatory phase and an inhibitory phase; when the timing of the interframe interval just matches the switch in response sign, the illusion occurs. Concepts covered in this chapter include four-stroke as well as two-stroke apparent motion, motion aftereffect, and motion detection.
Color Wagon-Wheel Illusion
Authors: Shapiro Arthur G. , Kistler William
Published: June 2017

The wagon-wheel illusion is a well-known cinematic effect in which a wheel rotates in one direction but is perceived as rotating in the opposite direction. This effect is created by the limitations of the frame rate at which the motion is sampled. This chapter examines variants of the color wagon-wheel illusion, an effect that arises when one or more elements of the rotating wagon wheel is colored or otherwise distinguished from other elements. In the color wagon-wheel illusion, the wheel is overall perceived as moving counterclockwise, but the colored elements are perceived as moving clockwise. The chapter explores equiluminant versions of the color wagon-wheel effect to show that separable motion directions can be used to tap into different types of motion perception systems.
The Motion Standstill Illusion
Authors: Sperling George , Lyu Son-Hee , Tseng Chia-Huei , Lu Zhong-Lin
Published: June 2017

In the motion standstill illusion, a pattern that is moving quite rapidly is perceived as being absolutely motionless, and yet its details are not blurred but clearly visible. The illusion can be observed in a wide variety of special moving stimuli that either disadvantage or fatigue the motion systems to the point where no motion is perceived but where the shape, texture, color, and depth systems are still able to function sufficiently to extract a stable image from the moving display. It demonstrates that visual processing systems for attributes such as shape, texture, color, and depth extract stable representations from moving images; only visual motion systems are capable of producing the sensation of motion.
Objectless Motion
Authors: Sperling George , Lu Zhong-Lin
Published: June 2017

The sum of two sine waves of the same frequency is yet another sine wave. When a moving sinewave grating (e.g., continuously translating from left to right) is added to (superimposed on) a stationary sinewave grating (the pedestal) with twice the amplitude, the sum is a sine-wave grating that wobbles back and forth. Remarkably, the left–right direction of the moving grating can be perceived just as accurately in pedestalled motion as in normal motion. At temporal frequencies of 10 Hz and greater, the wobble is too quick to be perceived. The moving pedestalled sine-wave grating is perceived as an invisible left-to-right horizontal wind above the summed sine-wave grating that wobbles back and forth at low temporal frequencies of motion but appears to be absolutely stationary at high temporal frequencies.
Silencing the Awareness of Change
Authors: Suchow Jordan W. , Alvarez George A.
Published: June 2017

Determining whether an object is changing is usually a simple matter of looking at it. But sometimes looking is not enough. For example, in the case of change blindness, drastic changes to a viewed scene become undetectable either because of a distracting flash that competes for attention or because the changes are slow and gradual. In silencing, a form of change blindness caused by the presence of motion, rapid and salient changes become hard to notice even without distraction This chapter describes the illusion of silencing. The strength of silencing depends on the speed of the motion, the structure of the objects, and whether the viewers move their eyes. The related concepts of awareness, consciousness, color perception, change blindness, attention, and motion processing are covered. The brief glimpse hypothesis and its limitations are also explored.
High Phi and Ghost Phi
Authors: Wexler Mark
Published: June 2017

When a moving stimulus is followed by certain transient events, an illusion of very fast motion is perceived, in which a random texture undergoes a slow rotation, but every second most observers perceive a very fast jump in the direction opposite to the preceding or “inducing” rotation. These jumps are illusory: during the perceived jump, every frame is a new, random texture, uncorrelated with the previous textures; the last of these random textures is set to turning once again, and the sequence repeats. Thus there is there is no specific correspondence between the textures before, during, and after the jumps and no motion energy corresponding to the jumps. These illusory jumps are called “high phi.” If the transient is immediately “undone,” a different kind of illusory motion is perceived, called “ghost phi.” This example shows a study of the effects of motion adaptation.
The Venus Effect
Authors: Bertamini Marco , Latto Richard
Published: June 2017

When an image shows an individual and a mirror, observers tend to describe the scene by saying that the individual is looking at his or her own refection in the mirror, even when the layout makes this impossible. The name comes from the many examples of paintings of Venus with a mirror, but the effect is not specific to pictures or to women. In addition to difficulties understanding what is visible in a mirror from different viewpoints, observers also struggle to appreciate information such as size of images on transparent surfaces, either mirror or windows. These illusions and difficulties stem from the nature of a visual system tuned to distal information and from the need to discard accidental information from changing perspectives.
The Presidential Illusion
Authors: Gilad-Gutnick Sharon , Sinha Pawan
Published: June 2017

The effectiveness of the presidential illusion underscores the important point that by excluding external facial features, such as the head and hair shape, we lose critical information about the way faces are represented in real life. This chapter considers the question of whether whole-head processing is a general principle that can be extended to all face processes or if it specifically reflects the nature of facial encoding used by the visual system for the identification of individuals. For example, would supplementing the internal features of one face with those of another affect the perception of other common facial attributes, such as gender, race, or age? The eyes, nose, and mouth are believed to be the primary purveyors of facial identity. The presidential illusion challenges this dogma and suggests that external head features (the hair and jawline) are also crucial constituents of facial representation and strongly influence identity judgments.
The Wobbling Face Illusion
Authors: Ueda Sayako , Kitaoka Akiyoshi
Published: June 2017

This chapter introduces a novel type of illusion produced by duplicating facial parts, called the Wobbling Face illusion, which causes an unstable feeling for many observers. Four experiments intended to characterize the illusion are examined. In Experiments 1 and 2, the results indicated that the Wobbling Face illusion should be specific to the face, and the unstable feeling may arise from rivalry of perception between doubled facial features. Experiment 3 showed that this illusion was the strongest when eyes were duplicated. Experiment 4 suggested that the unstable perception of this illusion did not reflect retinal slips or eye movement instabilities. Thus this face-specific illusion is not a simple motion illusion but might be based on attention instability.
Adaptation Aftereffects in the Perception of Faces
Authors: Webster Michael A.
Published: June 2017

Most people are adept at recognizing a face they have seen previously, or inferring from the face an individual’s traits. These abilities suggest that some aspects of the visual representation of faces remain stable. Yet, face perception may also involve highly dynamic processes that are continuously recalibrated by the variety of faces to which we are exposed. In particular, the appearance of a face can be rapidly and dramatically changed after viewing—and thus adapting—to a different face. Thus tThe perceived identity or characteristics of a face appears can be strongly biased by the set of faces seen previously. For example, after viewing a narrow face, a normally proportioned face appears too wide. These face aftereffects are similar in form and dynamics to the classic adaptation effects of color, form, and motion but may depend in part on response changes at high and possibly face-specific levels of visual processing.
Amodally Completed Angles
Authors: Gerbino Walter
Published: June 2017

When the vertex of an occluded angle geometrically belongs to the side of the occluding surface, the occluded angle looks distorted. This characteristic effect of coincidental occlusion—called the Gerbino illusion—is consistent with the phenomenal rounding of angles observed under conditions of symmetrical occlusion. Both effects are robust and appear in static and dynamic displays. The Gerbino illusion differs from distortions observed in Poggendorff-like displays, runs against the tendency to global Prägnanz, and reveals important aspects of amodal completion processes. Alternative explanations based on visual interpolation and visual approximation are discussed. According to the approximation-based explanation, the possible discrepancy between internal models and the sensory input is perceptually represented as a phenomenal distortion.
Adaptation to Brightness Change, Contours, Jogging, and Apparent Motion
Authors: Anstis Stuart
Published: June 2017

Frisby and Stone have dubbed adaptation the “psychophysicist’s electrode” and John Mollon once famously said, “If it adapts, it’s there.” Psychologists piously hope that their many experiments on visual adaptation will tell physiologists where to look inside the brain. This chapter describes visual adaptation to temporal ramps, spatial edges, and apparent motion and touches on kinesthetic aftereffects from jogging. Sawtooth adaptation, a ramp aftereffect that is produced by gazing at a spatially uniform patch whose luminance is temporally modulated by a repetitive sawtooth, either gradually dimming and turning sharply back on (rapid-on) or gradually brightening and turning sharply back off (rapid-off), is discussed. Related concepts that are covered include pattern-specific contrast adaptation, contour adaptation, adaptation to apparent motion, and adapting to flicker, which changes apparent spatial frequency.
Contrast Asynchronies
Authors: Shapiro Arthur G.
Published: June 2017

Contrast asynchronies juxtapose color and color contrast information. The basic configuration of a contrast asynchrony consists of two identical disks whose luminance levels change in time from light to dark and back again; one disk is surrounded by a bright field and the other by a dark field; at 1Hz, observers report seeing the disks modulating in antiphase, yet also becoming light and dark at the same time. While such a configuration may look like a dynamic brightness illusion, the actual effect occurs because the visual system separates the in-phase luminance information from the antiphase contrast information. Variations of the contrast asynchrony paradigm can isolate different types of visual responses information.
Hidden Images
Authors: Wade Nicholas J.
Published: June 2017

It is relatively easy to hide pictorial images, but this is of little value if they remain hidden. Presenting hidden images for visual purposes is a modern preoccupation, and some of the perceptual processes involved in them are described in this chapter. Pictorial images can be concealed in terms of detection or recognition. In both cases there is interplay between the global features of the concealed image and the local elements that carry it. Gestalt grouping principles can hinder as well as help recognition. Examples of images (mostly faces) hidden in geometrical designs and text as well as orientation are shown. Rather than being pictorial puzzles alone, hidden images can reveal aspects of visual processing. This chapter explores these concepts and related ideas such as perceptual portraits and pictorial puzzles.
The McGurk Effect and the Primacy of Multisensory Perception
Authors: Dias James W. , Cook Theresa C. , Rosenblum Lawrence D.
Published: June 2017

The McGurk effect is an audiovisual speech illusion in which tacit lip-reading of a spoken syllable influences perception of a synchronized, but discrepant, auditory syllable. The effect works on speakers of different native languages and on prelinguistic infants. The effect is also robust to various image manipulations and to observers’ conscious awareness of the stimulus composition. For these reasons, the effect has become one of the preeminent demonstrations of multisensory perception. This chapter discusses research on the McGurk effect, as well as its influence on theories of speech perception and its importance to the reconceptualization of the perceptual brain as designed around multisensory input.
Scripture
Authors: Givens Terryl L.
Published: June 2017

If spiritual gifts signify the possibility of new revelation, scripture represents a fixed standard. However, Mormonism’s standard is expansive and open to further development. Mormons read the Bible with a limited literalism but consider it to be missing “plain and precious things” and in need of correction and supplement. Joseph provided a new “translation,” but it was not canonized in whole. The Book of Mormon functions more as a sign of Smith’s authority than as a reservoir of doctrine, though it was important in providing a template for the organization of the church, priesthood, and basic sacraments. The Doctrine and Covenants is a compendium of Smith’s revelations, and though it is open in principle, only a few revelations not of his authorship have been added. And the Pearl of Great Price canonized his visionary experiences and a tremendously important text of purported Mosaic origin, along with a problematic account attributed to Abraham.
Worship
Authors: Givens Terryl L.
Published: June 2017

Mormons have a very low liturgy in their worship services, in contrast to the high formalism of their temples. In its anti-formalism, Mormon worship may be closest to Quakerism. Mormons are strict Sabbatarians, with worship oriented around taking “the sacrament” of the Lord’s Supper, supplemented with “talks” and hymns (called the sacrament meeting). Scriptures are often employed in the talks, but there is no formal requirement to do so, no readings or recitations. And topics may include grace, or resurrection, or the beatitudes, but may also focus on practical matters of self-reliance or thrift. Mormons also practice fasting once a month and have a monthly service that is a blend of Quaker informalism and Puritan conversion narrative, which they call “testimony bearing.” Twice a year, they convene at a General Conference to hear from the leadership of the church.
Taking Root
Authors: Ron James , Golden Shannon , Crow David , Pandya Archana
Published: June 2017

The number of rights organizations worldwide has grown exponentially, as the term “human rights” becomes increasingly common among politicians and civil society activists. As international donors pour money into global human rights promotion, many governments—as well as scores of scholars and activists—fear a subtle, Western-led campaign for political, economic, and cultural domination. This book asks: What do publics in the global South think? Drawing on surveys in India, Mexico, Morocco, and Nigeria, the book finds most people are in fact broadly supportive of human rights discourse, trust local, rights-promoting organizations, and do not view human rights as a tool of foreign powers. Pro-human rights constituencies, rather, tend to be highly skeptical of the U.S. government, of multinational corporations, and of their own governments. However, this generalized public support for the human rights “brand” is not grounded in strong commitments of public effort or money, or in dense social ties to the nongovernmental rights sector. Publics in the global South rarely give to their local rights groups, and few local rights organizations attempt to raise funds apart from foreign aid. This strategy is becoming increasingly untenable as governments crack down on foreign aid to civil society. The book also analyzes the complex relationships between religion and human rights, finding that public or social elements of religiosity are often associated with less support for human rights organizations. Personal religiosity, on the other hand, is often associated with more human rights support.
Multimodal mechanistic signatures for neurodegenerative diseases (NeuroMMSig): a web server for mechanism enrichment
Authors: Domingo-Fernández Daniel , Kodamullil Alpha Tom , Iyappan Anandhi , Naz Mufassra , Emon Mohammad Asif , Raschka Tamara , Karki Reagon , Springstubbe Stephan , Ebeling Christian , Hofmann-Apitius Martin
Published: June 2017

Motivation

The concept of a ‘mechanism-based taxonomy of human disease’ is currently replacing the outdated paradigm of diseases classified by clinical appearance. We have tackled the paradigm of mechanism-based patient subgroup identification in the challenging area of research on neurodegenerative diseases.

Results

We have developed a knowledge base representing essential pathophysiology mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases. Together with dedicated algorithms, this knowledge base forms the basis for a ‘mechanism-enrichment server’ that supports the mechanistic interpretation of multiscale, multimodal clinical data.

Availability and implementation

NeuroMMSig is available at http://neurommsig.scai.fraunhofer.de/

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
TSGSIS: a high-dimensional grouped variable selection approach for detection of whole-genome SNP–SNP interactions
Authors: Fang Yao-Hwei , Wang Jie-Huei , Hsiung Chao A
Published: June 2017

Motivation

Identification of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) interactions is an important and challenging topic in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Many approaches have been applied to detecting whole-genome interactions. However, these approaches to interaction analysis tend to miss causal interaction effects when the individual marginal effects are uncorrelated to trait, while their interaction effects are highly associated with the trait.

Results

A grouped variable selection technique, called two-stage grouped sure independence screening (TS-GSIS), is developed to study interactions that may not have marginal effects. The proposed TS-GSIS is shown to be very helpful in identifying not only causal SNP effects that are uncorrelated to trait but also their corresponding SNP–SNP interaction effects. The benefit of TS-GSIS are gaining detection of interaction effects by taking the joint information among the SNPs and determining the size of candidate sets in the model. Simulation studies under various scenarios are performed to compare performance of TS-GSIS and current approaches. We also apply our approach to a real rheumatoid arthritis (RA) dataset. Both the simulation and real data studies show that the TS-GSIS performs very well in detecting SNP–SNP interactions.

Availability and implementation

R-package is delivered through CRAN and is available at: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/TSGSIS/index.html.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Classification of sleep disorders
Authors: Thorpy Michael
Published: June 2017

The classification of sleep disorders is essential both for correct diagnosis and for coding purposes. There are three major sleep disorder classifications in the USA: the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-3), and the International Classification of Diseases Modified Version (ICD-10-CM). This chapter discusses these classifications and their differences. DSM-V and ICSD-3 are used mainly for diagnostic information, whereas ICD-10-CM is used for coding. Sleep disorders can be regarded as falling into three main groups: those that cause difficulty with nighttime sleep, those that cause daytime sleepiness, and those that cause abnormal behavior during the night. The disorders, such as insomnia disorder, narcolepsy, circadian rhythm sleep disorders, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and the parasomnias, in these three groups are organized differently, depending upon the classification system. The most detailed diagnostic classification system is ICSD-3, whereas the DSM-V classification is a simplified version, predominantly for psychiatrists.
Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments of insomnia
Authors: Hertenstein Elisabeth , Nissen Christoph , Riemann Dieter
Published: June 2017

This chapter evaluates evidence-based treatment options for chronic insomnia. Insomnia is a common sleep disorder characterized by sleep onset and maintenance difficulties and daytime impairment such as reduced concentration and motivation. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI) is the first-line treatment for chronic primary and comorbid insomnia. CBTI comprises behavioral treatment (sleep restriction, stimulus control), relaxation, cognitive therapy, and sleep education. Its effects are of medium to large size and are stable up to two years after treatment. Benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine receptor agonists are equally effective for short-term treatment. However, because of their adverse effects, especially in the elderly, and their potential for tolerance and dependence, they are only recommended for a treatment period up to four weeks. Low doses of sedating antidepressants are commonly prescribed for treating chronic insomnia and have shown promising results in clinical trials. However, more research on their long-term efficacy and safety is needed.