Event perception

Owing to their plural dimensions (medical and scientific, judicial,
politic, economic, etc.) and to her considerable coverage, the
mediatization of the « infected blood scandal » in France between 1991 and 1995 is an exemplar case which shows that a great event coverage depend in part to the division of labor between different professional types of journalists. This article shows how progressively the medical journalists have been deprived of this affair by their most prestigious colleagues (general interest reporters, political journalists, columnists). It analyzes also the effects of these shifts on the event’s dominant perception, particularly her politicization, in the French media.

"This is a programmatic paper. It elaborates on the concept of similarity as a cognitive tool for sense-making in music. Taking as a starting point the definition of similarity as a relational concept it tries to provide a description in terms of standard and goal that can be applied to the delimitation of elements as well as to the comparison of these elements with each other. As such it focusses on three major topics: (i) the delimitation of elements, (ii) the comparison of these elements to themselves (self-reference) and to each other, and (iii) an operational framework for the delimitation of these elements. The latter is considered from the position of deixis and ecological perception, relying on the “deictic” act of mental pointing to elements that are eligible for deliberate attention as well as on the “ecological” principles of event perception and cognitive economy. It is possible, further, to conceive of pointing as an internal construction of an external operation, and to consider pointing as a predication process which can be applied to focal points as well as to events with at least some extension through time.
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This study aims at profiling residents based on their perceptions and attitude toward a motor sport event, namely the FIA World Rally Championship. A structured questionnaire was developed and responses from a convenience sample of 759 residents were collected face-to-face in Olbia (Sardinia, Italy), the main municipality involved in the event. A two-step cluster analysis was applied to the seven factors identified by running exploratory factor analysis on a list of 46 statements used to investigate residents’ perceptions and attitudes. Results show that residents perceptions and attitudes are not homogeneous and that four clusters can be identified with significant differences based on their socio-demographic  characteristics. “Supporters” is the biggest one, followed in decreasing order of size, by: “Neutrals”, “Enthusiasts but culturally and environmentally concerned” and “Critics”. Contributions to the body of knowledge and managerial implications are discussed and suggestions for further research are given.

Is motion cognition influenced by the large-scale typological patterns proposed in Talmy’s (2000) two-way distinction between verb-framed (V) and satellite-framed (S) languages? Previous studies investigating this question have been limited to comparing two or three languages at a time and have come to conflicting results. We present the largest cross-linguistic study on this question to date, drawing on data from nineteen genealogically diverse languages, all investigated in the same behavioral paradigm and using the same stimuli. After controlling for the different dependencies in the data by means of multilevel regression models, we find no evidence that S- vs. V-framing affects nonverbal categorization of motion events. At the same time, statistical simulations suggest that our study and previous work within the same behavioral paradigm suffer from insufficient statistical power. We discuss these findings in the light of the great variability between participants, which suggests...

"Iconic Power is a collection of original articles that explores social aspects of the phenomenon of icon. Having experienced the benefits and realized the limitations of so called "linguistic turn," sociology has recently acknowledged a need to further expand its horizons. "Visual sociology" is emerging as a separate field and prominent scholars announce the coming of "the pictorial turn." The methods and themes taken up in these studies respond to this shift in social scientific interest. Each contribution to this book carefully tests the analytic purchase and empirical implications of iconicity. If we can succeed in understanding the iconic, we should be able to know our culture much better.

As the Australian sociologist of art Eduardo de la Fuente pointed out, "Iconic Power" is "the strongest theoretical statement to yet come out of the 'strong program' in cultural sociology." He emphasized the importance of 'iconicity' as the concept that more than 'ritual' or even 'performance' promises to break free of economistic, linguistic, and other kinds of reductionisms that plague the cultural sciences. The British cultural sociologist David Inglis praised the book's wide empirical coverage. For these reasons, "Iconic Power" can serve as a guide on how to approach the tremendous social efficacy of the visual and other non-discursive symbols. "

"Owing to their plural dimensions (medical and scientific, judicial, politic, economic, etc.) and to her considerable coverage, the mediatization of the « infected blood scandal » in France between 1991 and 1995 is an exemplar case which shows that a great event coverage depend in part to the division of labor between different professional types of journalists. This article shows how progressively the medical journalists have been deprived of this affair by their most prestigious colleagues (general interest reporters, political journalists, columnists). It analyzes also the effects of these shifts on the event’s dominant perception, particularly her politicization, in the French media."

Is motion cognition influenced by the large-scale typological patterns proposed in Talmy’s (2000) two-way distinction between verb-framed (V) and satellite-framed (S) languages? Previous studies investigating this question have been limited to comparing two or three languages at a time and have come to conflicting results. We present the largest cross-linguistic study on this question to date, drawing on data from nineteen genealogically diverse languages, all investigated in the same behavioral paradigm and using the same stimuli. After controlling for the different dependencies in the data by means of multilevel regression models, we find no evidence that S- vs. V-framing affects nonverbal categorization of motion events. At the same time, statistical simulations suggest that our study and previous work within the same behavioral paradigm suffer from insufficient statistical power. We discuss these findings in the light of the great variability between participants, which suggests...

ABSTRACT. This paper addresses the question whether we can conceive of music cognition in ecosemiotic terms. It claims that music knowledge must be generated as a tool for adaptation to the sonic world and calls forth a shift from a structural
description of music as an artifact to a process-like approach to dealing with music. As listeners, we are observers who construct and organize our knowledge and bring with us our observational tools. What matters is not merely the sonic world in its objective qualities, but the world as perceived. In order to make these claims operational we can rely on the ecological concept of coping with the sonic world and the cybernetic concepts of artificial and adaptive devices. Listeners, on this view, are able to change their semantic relations with the sonic world through functional adaptations at the level of sensing, acting and coordinating between action and perception. This allows us to understand music in functional terms of what it affords to us and not merely in terms of its acoustic qualities. There are, however, degrees of freedom and constraints which shape the semiotization of the sonic world. As such we must
consider the role of event perception and cognitive economy: listeners do not perceive the acoustical environment in terms of phenomenological descriptions but as ecological events.

Is motion cognition influenced by the large-scale typological patterns proposed in Talmy’s (2000) two-way distinction between verb-framed (V) and satellite-framed (S) languages? Previous studies investigating this question have been limited to comparing two or three languages at a time and have come to conflicting results. We present the largest cross-linguistic study on this question to date, drawing on data from nineteen genealogically diverse languages, all investigated in the same behavioral paradigm and using the same stimuli. After controlling for the different dependencies in the data by means of multilevel regression models, we find no evidence that S- vs. V-framing affects nonverbal categorization of motion events. At the same time, statistical simulations suggest that our study and previous work within the same behavioral paradigm suffer from insufficient statistical power. We discuss these findings in the light of the great variability between participants, which suggests...

Is motion cognition influenced by the large-scale typological patterns proposed in Talmy’s (2000) two-way distinction between verb-framed (V) and satellite-framed (S) languages? Previous studies investigating this question have been limited to comparing two or three languages at a time and have come to conflicting results. We present the largest cross-linguistic study on this question to date, drawing on data from nineteen genealogically diverse languages, all investigated in the same behavioral paradigm and using the same stimuli. After controlling for the different dependencies in the data by means of multilevel regression models, we find no evidence that S- vs. V-framing affects nonverbal categorization of motion events. At the same time, statistical simulations suggest that our study and previous work within the same behavioral paradigm suffer from insufficient statistical power. We discuss these findings in the light of the great variability between participants, which suggests...

Is motion cognition influenced by the large-scale typological patterns proposed in Talmy’s (2000) two-way distinction between verb-framed (V) and satellite-framed (S) languages? Previous studies investigating this question have been limited to comparing two or three languages at a time and have come to conflicting results. We present the largest cross-linguistic study on this question to date, drawing on data from nineteen genealogically diverse languages, all investigated in the same behavioral paradigm and using the same stimuli. After controlling for the different dependencies in the data by means of multilevel regression models, we find no evidence that S- vs. V-framing affects nonverbal categorization of motion events. At the same time, statistical simulations suggest that our study and previous work within the same behavioral paradigm suffer from insufficient statistical power. We discuss these findings in the light of the great variability between participants, which suggests...

Music can be considered as an ontological category - as something “out there” - but also as something that calls forth epistemological assumptions and listening strategies. Listening, in fact, relies on music knowledge that must be generated as a tool for adaptation to the sonic world. It is the listener who makes sense of music, somewhat analogous to an organism that makes sense of its environment. Listening strategies, on this view, can be defined as interactions between the listener as an organism and the music as environment. This interactional approach calls forth the biological roots of musical epistemology and the key concept of adaptation.

What is the relationship between film viewers' eye movements and their film comprehen-sion? Typical Hollywood movies induce strong attentional synchrony—most viewers look at the same things at the same time. Thus, we asked whether film viewers' eye movements would differ based on their understanding—the mental model hypothesis—or whether any such differences would be overwhelmed by viewers' attentional synchrony—the tyranny of film hypothesis. To investigate this question, we manipulated the presence/absence of prior film context and measured resulting differences in film comprehension and eye movements. Viewers watched a 12-second James Bond movie clip, ending just as a critical predictive inference should be drawn that Bond's nemesis, " Jaws, " would fall from the sky onto a circus tent. The No-context condition saw only the 12-second clip, but the Context condition also saw the preceding 2.5 minutes of the movie before seeing the critical 12-second portion. Importantly, the Context condition viewers were more likely to draw the critical inference and were more likely to perceive coherence across the entire 6 shot sequence (as shown by event segmentation), indicating greater comprehension. Viewers' eye movements showed strong attentional synchrony in both conditions as compared to a chance level baseline, but smaller differences between conditions. Specifically, the Context condition viewers showed slightly, but significantly, greater attentional synchrony and lower cog-nitive load (as shown by fixation probability) during the critical first circus tent shot. Thus, overall, the results were more consistent with the tyranny of film hypothesis than the mental model hypothesis. These results suggest the need for a theory that encompasses processes from the perception to the comprehension of film.

Is motion cognition influenced by the large-scale typological patterns proposed in Talmy’s (2000) two-way distinction between verb-framed (V) and satellite-framed (S) languages? Previous studies investigating this question have been limited to comparing two or three languages at a time and have come to conflicting results. We present the largest cross-linguistic study on this question to date, drawing on data from nineteen genealogically diverse languages, all investigated in the same behavioral paradigm and using the same stimuli. After controlling for the different dependencies in the data by means of multilevel regression models, we find no evidence that S- vs. V-framing affects nonverbal categorization of motion events. At the same time, statistical simulations suggest that our study and previous work within the same behavioral paradigm suffer from insufficient statistical power. We discuss these findings in the light of the great variability between participants, which suggests...

How do children evaluate complex causal events? This study investigates preschoolers’ representation of force dynamics in causal scenes, asking whether (a) children understand how single and dual forces impact an object’s movement and (b) this understanding varies across cause types (Cause, Enable, Prevent). Three-and-a half- to 5.5-year-olds (n = 60) played a board game in which they were asked to predict the endpoint of a ball being acted upon by one or two forces. Children mostly understood the interactions of forces underlying each type of cause; only 5.5-year-olds could integrate two contradictory forces. Children perceive force interactions underlying causal events, but some concepts might not be fully understood until later in childhood. This study provides a new way of thinking about causal relations.

To learn motion verbs, infants must be sensitive to the specific event features lexicalized in their language. One event feature important for the acquisition of English motion verbs is the manner of motion. This article examines when and how infants detect manners of motion across variations in the figure’s path. Experiment 1 shows that 13- to 15-month-olds (N = 30) can detect an invariant manner of motion when the figure’s path changes. Experiment 2 reveals that reducing the complexity of the events, by dampening the figure’s path, helps 10- to 12-month-olds (N = 19) detect the invariant manner. These findings suggest that: (a) infants notice event features lexicalized in English motion verbs, and (b) attention to manner can be promoted by reducing event complexity. Central to understanding how children acquire motion verbs and spatial prepositions is an exami-nation of how infants process, discriminate and cat-egorize events, actions, and spatial relations. Infants must be able t...

This chapter will explore some issues related to the analysis, perception and production of gestures in music-making. Although it will touch on the most obvious modality through which gestures are viewed by audiences, the visual, it will take a more poietic (and perhaps ...

From static blurry images, it is difficult to perceive objects because high spatial frequency details are filtered out. However, in the context of events (defined as objects in motion), motion generates optic flow, which provides a depth map of 3D layout and allows good event perception. Visual motion measurement uses low spatial frequencies that remain available in blurry images, making events perceivable. Optic flow and image structure are intrinsically related in vision because optic flow takes one image to the next. Optic flow is powerful in specifying depth structures and it calibrates the degraded image structure; image structure is persistent and it preserves events perceived with ongoing motion, after it stops. Might optic flow and image structures interact and allow events to be perceived despite poor quality images? The answer to this question has implications for event perception with low vision. Twenty blurry images depicting each of eight daily events were used as stimu...

Integration of emotion in a virtual agent is a topic of research to depict human-like
behavior in a simulated environment. For the last few decades, many researchers are
working in the field of incorporating emotions in a virtual agent. In the emotion model, the
behavior of an agent depends upon how the event is perceived by the agent with respect to
the goal. Hence, perception of the event while considering the past experience, importance
of event towards achieving goal, agent's own capabilities and resources is an important  process  which directly  influences  the  decision  making  and  action  selection.  The proposed models, till date, are either too complex to adapt or are using  a  very  few  parameters  to  describe  the  event.  So,  in  this paper,  we  propose  an  extension  of  perception  process  in  an existing  emotion  model,  EMIA  and  suggest  the  formalization  of event  perception  and  appraisal  processes  to  make  it  adaptable.  This  has  been  carried  out  using  five  parameters  for  event
description along-with fuzzy logic which makes the process more effective yet simple.