Ty W. Boyer | Georgia Southern University (original) (raw)
Papers by Ty W. Boyer
Learning about the structure of the world requires learning probabilistic relationships: rules in... more Learning about the structure of the world requires learning probabilistic relationships: rules in which cues do not predict outcomes with certainty. However, in some cases, the ability to track probabilistic relationships is a handicap, leading adults to perform non-normatively in prediction tasks. For example, in the dilution effect, predictions made from the combination of two cues of different strengths are less accurate than those made from the stronger cue alone. Here we show that dilution is an adult problem; 11-month-old infants combine strong and weak predictors normatively. These results extend and add support for the less is more hypothesis: limited cognitive resources can lead children to represent probabilistic information differently from adults, and this difference in representation can have important downstream consequences for prediction.
Infants have shown variable success in quantity comparison tasks, with infants of a given age som... more Infants have shown variable success in quantity comparison tasks, with infants of a given age sometimes successfully discriminating numerical differences at a 2:3 ratio but requiring 1:2 and even 1:4 ratios of change at other times. The current explanations for these variable results include the two-systems proposal -a theoretical framework that suggests that there are multiple systems at play and that these systems do not communicate early in infancy,
Springer eBooks, 2016
Research has examined a wide range of factors that are associated with adolescent risk-taking, dr... more Research has examined a wide range of factors that are associated with adolescent risk-taking, drawn from across academic subdisciplines. These factors and their role in adolescent risk-taking tend to be examined in isolation of other factors, which poses problems for gaining a clear understanding of adolescent risk-taking. The present essay reviews a number of these factors – specifically, social-contextual influences, cognitive and affective decision-making tendencies, impulsivity, sensation seeking, and sex differences – and organizes them within an opportunity-propensity framework. The implications of this approach for risk-taking interventions are briefly discussed
Animal Behavior and Cognition, Aug 1, 2017
Using a psychophysical approach coupled with eye-tracking measures, we varied length and width of... more Using a psychophysical approach coupled with eye-tracking measures, we varied length and width of shape stimuli to determine the objective parameters that corresponded to subjective determination of square/rectangle judgments. Participants viewed a two-dimensional shape stimulus and made a two-alternative forced-choice whether it was a square or rectangle. Participants' gaze was tracked throughout the task to explore directed visual attention to the vertical and horizontal axes of space. Behavioral results provide threshold values for two-dimensional square/rectangle perception, and eye-tracking data indicated that participants directed attention to the major and minor principal axes. Results are consistent with the use of the major and minor principal axis of space for shape perception and may have theoretical and empirical implications for orientation via geometric cues.
Please go to the ISIS website (www.isisweb.org) and click on "Information for Members". Membershi... more Please go to the ISIS website (www.isisweb.org) and click on "Information for Members". Membership includes subscription to the journal Infancy and reduced conference rates.
This presentation was given at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psyc... more This presentation was given at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology
When making decisions, most people tend to avoid uncertain outcomes or risks. However, individual... more When making decisions, most people tend to avoid uncertain outcomes or risks. However, individual differences, such as optimism versus pessimism and liberalism versus conservatism, may lead to variable approaches and outcomes in the decisionmaking process. Thus, the goal of this research is to examine individual differences in decision-making preferences and whether these associate with personality characteristics (i.e., optimism/pessimism and conservative/liberal views). To test this, the current study involves a probabilistic gambling task, adapted from behavioral judgment and decisionmaking research. Participants are shown "wheel-of-fortune-like" spinner wheel stimuli divided into green, red, and gray sections. The relative proportion of each color represents the respective probability of a win, loss, or no change in a bank of points, and participants' task is to choose between two simultaneously presented wheels. In a key set of trials, participants are presented with truly ambiguous choices, in which the relative win-to-loss ratios are objectively identical, though the likelihood of neutral outcomes vary. In addition, participants complete the Revised Life Orientation Test, which measures optimistic versus pessimistic views, and the Liberal-Conservative Self-Report Scale.
The extent to which geometric processing is isolated from other processes remains a long-standing... more The extent to which geometric processing is isolated from other processes remains a long-standing question. Sturz, Edwards, and Boyer (2014) developed a delayed match-to-sample task that presented a sample of a shape, shape word, or bi-dimensional stimulus (shape and shape word). Post delay, participants identified the sample shape or the sample word by selecting between two shapes or two shape words. An asymmetrical pattern of interference emerged with increased reaction times and errors occurring in matching shape targets but not word targets. This was interpreted as shape words activating a semantic and spatial representation of shapes, but shapes only activating a spatial representation; however, such a pattern of results could have resulted from the shape word being more salient than the shape. The present experiments replicated and extended these results by manipulating figure-ground relations to contrast the original condition with an alternative to address an explanation based upon sample shape saliency (Experiment 1) and by confirming the effectiveness of the saliency manipulation (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 replicated the asymmetrical pattern of results for both conditions, and Experiment 2 confirmed the saliency manipulation. Collectively, these results undermine a pure saliency explanation and have comparative implications for the isolation of geometric processing
All workshop leaders this year will admit graduate students without faculty sponsorship. However,... more All workshop leaders this year will admit graduate students without faculty sponsorship. However, many of the workshops assume specific background knowledge. Be sure that you are eligible.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2016
PLOS ONE, Mar 20, 2014
Nativists have postulated fundamental geometric knowledge that predates linguistic and symbolic t... more Nativists have postulated fundamental geometric knowledge that predates linguistic and symbolic thought. Central to these claims is the proposal for an isolated cognitive system dedicated to processing geometric information. Testing such hypotheses presents challenges due to difficulties in eliminating the combination of geometric and non-geometric information through language. We present evidence using a modified matching interference paradigm that an incongruent shape word interferes with identifying a two-dimensional geometric shape, but an incongruent two-dimensional geometric shape does not interfere with identifying a shape word. This asymmetry in interference effects between two-dimensional geometric shapes and their corresponding shape words suggests that shape words activate spatial representations of shapes but shapes do not activate linguistic representations of shape words. These results appear consistent with hypotheses concerning a cognitive system dedicated to processing geometric information isolated from linguistic processing and provide evidence consistent with hypotheses concerning knowledge of geometric properties of space that predates linguistic and symbolic thought.
Welcome to the 2017 Meetings of the Cognitive Development Society. I'm happy to welcome you to Po... more Welcome to the 2017 Meetings of the Cognitive Development Society. I'm happy to welcome you to Portland and to thank you for attending. The Society has come a long way from our first meeting in 1999 in Virginia Beach. We had 250 attendees then; this year, we will have over 800. We have added a fifth parallel presentation session, thereby allowing more attendees to participate in symposia or talks. Nevertheless, competition for slots remained very tight, with a rejection rate for oral presentations and symposia of over 70%. Fortunately, our very active poster sessions have allowed most members to present their work at the conference. We have put together an exciting invited program. Our two plenary speakers, Susan Carey and Jacquelynne Eccles, are among the most influential researchers in their fields, and their presentations will highlight the current "state of the art" in cognitive development. Our invited symposia on the "Relational Mind" and "The Development of the Imagination" integrate different theoretical approaches and methods across issues that are of central interest in our field. We have a tight schedule, but I hope you will find time to enjoy our host city, Portland. You will find that it is a diverse city with many cultural offerings, along with fantastic restaurants. My term as President will end when the conference is complete. I have very much appreciated the honor of serving, and welcome Paul Harris as the new President.
Learning about the structure of the world requires learning probabilistic relationships: rules in... more Learning about the structure of the world requires learning probabilistic relationships: rules in which cues do not predict outcomes with certainty. However, in some cases, the ability to track probabilistic relationships is a handicap, leading adults to perform non-normatively in prediction tasks. For example, in the dilution effect, predictions made from the combination of two cues of different strengths are less accurate than those made from the stronger cue alone. Here we show that dilution is an adult problem; 11-month-old infants combine strong and weak predictors normatively. These results extend and add support for the less is more hypothesis: limited cognitive resources can lead children to represent probabilistic information differently from adults, and this difference in representation can have important downstream consequences for prediction.
Infants have shown variable success in quantity comparison tasks, with infants of a given age som... more Infants have shown variable success in quantity comparison tasks, with infants of a given age sometimes successfully discriminating numerical differences at a 2:3 ratio but requiring 1:2 and even 1:4 ratios of change at other times. The current explanations for these variable results include the two-systems proposal -a theoretical framework that suggests that there are multiple systems at play and that these systems do not communicate early in infancy,
Springer eBooks, 2016
Research has examined a wide range of factors that are associated with adolescent risk-taking, dr... more Research has examined a wide range of factors that are associated with adolescent risk-taking, drawn from across academic subdisciplines. These factors and their role in adolescent risk-taking tend to be examined in isolation of other factors, which poses problems for gaining a clear understanding of adolescent risk-taking. The present essay reviews a number of these factors – specifically, social-contextual influences, cognitive and affective decision-making tendencies, impulsivity, sensation seeking, and sex differences – and organizes them within an opportunity-propensity framework. The implications of this approach for risk-taking interventions are briefly discussed
Animal Behavior and Cognition, Aug 1, 2017
Using a psychophysical approach coupled with eye-tracking measures, we varied length and width of... more Using a psychophysical approach coupled with eye-tracking measures, we varied length and width of shape stimuli to determine the objective parameters that corresponded to subjective determination of square/rectangle judgments. Participants viewed a two-dimensional shape stimulus and made a two-alternative forced-choice whether it was a square or rectangle. Participants' gaze was tracked throughout the task to explore directed visual attention to the vertical and horizontal axes of space. Behavioral results provide threshold values for two-dimensional square/rectangle perception, and eye-tracking data indicated that participants directed attention to the major and minor principal axes. Results are consistent with the use of the major and minor principal axis of space for shape perception and may have theoretical and empirical implications for orientation via geometric cues.
Please go to the ISIS website (www.isisweb.org) and click on "Information for Members". Membershi... more Please go to the ISIS website (www.isisweb.org) and click on "Information for Members". Membership includes subscription to the journal Infancy and reduced conference rates.
This presentation was given at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psyc... more This presentation was given at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology
When making decisions, most people tend to avoid uncertain outcomes or risks. However, individual... more When making decisions, most people tend to avoid uncertain outcomes or risks. However, individual differences, such as optimism versus pessimism and liberalism versus conservatism, may lead to variable approaches and outcomes in the decisionmaking process. Thus, the goal of this research is to examine individual differences in decision-making preferences and whether these associate with personality characteristics (i.e., optimism/pessimism and conservative/liberal views). To test this, the current study involves a probabilistic gambling task, adapted from behavioral judgment and decisionmaking research. Participants are shown "wheel-of-fortune-like" spinner wheel stimuli divided into green, red, and gray sections. The relative proportion of each color represents the respective probability of a win, loss, or no change in a bank of points, and participants' task is to choose between two simultaneously presented wheels. In a key set of trials, participants are presented with truly ambiguous choices, in which the relative win-to-loss ratios are objectively identical, though the likelihood of neutral outcomes vary. In addition, participants complete the Revised Life Orientation Test, which measures optimistic versus pessimistic views, and the Liberal-Conservative Self-Report Scale.
The extent to which geometric processing is isolated from other processes remains a long-standing... more The extent to which geometric processing is isolated from other processes remains a long-standing question. Sturz, Edwards, and Boyer (2014) developed a delayed match-to-sample task that presented a sample of a shape, shape word, or bi-dimensional stimulus (shape and shape word). Post delay, participants identified the sample shape or the sample word by selecting between two shapes or two shape words. An asymmetrical pattern of interference emerged with increased reaction times and errors occurring in matching shape targets but not word targets. This was interpreted as shape words activating a semantic and spatial representation of shapes, but shapes only activating a spatial representation; however, such a pattern of results could have resulted from the shape word being more salient than the shape. The present experiments replicated and extended these results by manipulating figure-ground relations to contrast the original condition with an alternative to address an explanation based upon sample shape saliency (Experiment 1) and by confirming the effectiveness of the saliency manipulation (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 replicated the asymmetrical pattern of results for both conditions, and Experiment 2 confirmed the saliency manipulation. Collectively, these results undermine a pure saliency explanation and have comparative implications for the isolation of geometric processing
All workshop leaders this year will admit graduate students without faculty sponsorship. However,... more All workshop leaders this year will admit graduate students without faculty sponsorship. However, many of the workshops assume specific background knowledge. Be sure that you are eligible.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2016
PLOS ONE, Mar 20, 2014
Nativists have postulated fundamental geometric knowledge that predates linguistic and symbolic t... more Nativists have postulated fundamental geometric knowledge that predates linguistic and symbolic thought. Central to these claims is the proposal for an isolated cognitive system dedicated to processing geometric information. Testing such hypotheses presents challenges due to difficulties in eliminating the combination of geometric and non-geometric information through language. We present evidence using a modified matching interference paradigm that an incongruent shape word interferes with identifying a two-dimensional geometric shape, but an incongruent two-dimensional geometric shape does not interfere with identifying a shape word. This asymmetry in interference effects between two-dimensional geometric shapes and their corresponding shape words suggests that shape words activate spatial representations of shapes but shapes do not activate linguistic representations of shape words. These results appear consistent with hypotheses concerning a cognitive system dedicated to processing geometric information isolated from linguistic processing and provide evidence consistent with hypotheses concerning knowledge of geometric properties of space that predates linguistic and symbolic thought.
Welcome to the 2017 Meetings of the Cognitive Development Society. I'm happy to welcome you to Po... more Welcome to the 2017 Meetings of the Cognitive Development Society. I'm happy to welcome you to Portland and to thank you for attending. The Society has come a long way from our first meeting in 1999 in Virginia Beach. We had 250 attendees then; this year, we will have over 800. We have added a fifth parallel presentation session, thereby allowing more attendees to participate in symposia or talks. Nevertheless, competition for slots remained very tight, with a rejection rate for oral presentations and symposia of over 70%. Fortunately, our very active poster sessions have allowed most members to present their work at the conference. We have put together an exciting invited program. Our two plenary speakers, Susan Carey and Jacquelynne Eccles, are among the most influential researchers in their fields, and their presentations will highlight the current "state of the art" in cognitive development. Our invited symposia on the "Relational Mind" and "The Development of the Imagination" integrate different theoretical approaches and methods across issues that are of central interest in our field. We have a tight schedule, but I hope you will find time to enjoy our host city, Portland. You will find that it is a diverse city with many cultural offerings, along with fantastic restaurants. My term as President will end when the conference is complete. I have very much appreciated the honor of serving, and welcome Paul Harris as the new President.