Search

The glare effect is a brightness illusion that has captured the attention of the vision community since its discovery. However, its photometrical reversal, which we refer to here as photometrical reversed glare (PRG) stimuli, remained relatively unexplored. We presented three experiments that sought to examine the perceived brightness of a target area surrounded by luminance gradients in PRG stimuli and compare them with conventional glare effect configurations. Experiment 1 measured the brightness of the central target area of PRG stimuli through an adjustment task; the results showed that the target appeared brighter than similar, comparative areas not surrounded by luminance gradients. This finding was unexpected given the recent report that PRG stimuli cause pupil dilation. Meanwhile, Experiments 2 and 3 implemented a rating task to further test the findings in Experiment 1. Again, the study found a robust brightening illusion in the target area of PRG stimuli in a wide range of target and background luminance. The results are discussed in comparison with the brightness enhancement of the glare effect.

The purpose of this research is to present the employment of a simple-to-use crossmodal method for measuring haptic size illusions. The method, that we call See what you feel , was tested by employing Uznadze’s classic haptic aftereffect in which two spheres physically identical (test spheres) appear different in size after that the hands holding them underwent an adaptation session with other two spheres (adapting spheres), one bigger and the other smaller than the two test spheres. To measure the entity of the illusion, a three-dimensional visual scale was created and participants were asked to find on it the spheres that corresponded in size to the spheres they were holding in their hands out of sight. The method, tested on 160 right-handed participants, is robust and easily understood by participants.

Context. The impact of stellar feedback on the Kennicutt–Schmidt (KS) law, which relates the star formation rate (SFR) to the surface gas density, is a topic of ongoing debate. The interpretation of high-resolution observations of individual clouds is challenging due to the various processes at play simultaneously and inherent biases. Therefore, a numerical investigation is necessary to understand the role of stellar feedback and identify observable signatures. Aims. In this study we investigate the impact of stellar feedback on the KS law, aiming to identify distinct signatures that can be observed and analysed. By employing magnetohydrodynamic simulations of an isolated cloud, we specifically isolate the effects of high-mass star radiation feedback and protostellar jets. High-resolution numerical simulations are a valuable tool for isolating the impact of stellar feedback on the star formation process, while also allowing us to assess how observational biases may affect the derived relation. Methods. We used high-resolution (<0.01 pc) magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations of a 104M⊙ cloud and followed its evolution under different feedback prescriptions. The set of simulations contained four types of feedback: one with only protostellar jets, one with ionising radiation from massive stars (>8 M⊙), one with the combination of the two, and one without any stellar feedback. In order to compare these simulations with the existing observational results, we analysed their evolution by adopting the same techniques applied in the observational studies. Then, we simulated how the same analyses would change if the data were affected by typical observational biases: counting young stellar objects (YSO) to estimate the SFR, the limited resolution for the column density maps, and a sensitivity threshold for detecting faint embedded YSOs. Results. Our analysis reveals that the presence of stellar feedback strongly influences the shape of the KS relation and the star formation efficiency per free-fall time (ϵff). The impact of feedback on the relation is primarily governed by its influence on the cloud's structure. Additionally, the evolution of ϵff throughout the star formation event suggests that variations in this quantity can mask the impact of feedback in observational studies that do not account for the evolutionary stage of the clouds. Although the ϵff measured in our clouds is higher than what is usually observed in real clouds, upon applying prescriptions to mimic observational biases we recover a good agreement with the expected values. From that, we can infer that observations tend to underestimate the total SFR. Moreover, this likely indicates that the physics included in our simulations is sufficient to reproduce the basic mechanisms that contribute to setting ϵff. Conclusions. We demonstrate the interest of employing numerical simulations to address the impact of early feedback on star formation laws and to correctly interpret observational data. This study will be extended to other types of molecular clouds and ionising stars, sampling different feedback strengths, to fully characterise the impact of H II regions on star formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the map of intrinsic groundwater vulnerability of the Isonzo/Soča High Plain, which is located between the Collio Hills and the Classical Karst Region and holds an aquifer shared between Italy and Slovenia. The map, produced at a scale of 1:25,000 and printed in A0 format, was obtained by means of the SINTACS method and shows the intrinsic vulnerability of the aquifer in terms of seven vulnerability classes, from extremely high to low. It is accompanied by four supplementary sketches that illustrate the geological framework, the bedrock top surface, the groundwater flow paths, the Hazard Index map and three diagrams that summarize the percentages of vulnerability classes and of Hazard Index classes of the study area.

According to both experimental research and common sense, classical music is a better fit for figurative art than jazz. We hypothesize that similar fits may reflect underlying crossmodal structural similarities between music and painting genres. We present two preliminary studies aimed at addressing our hypothesis. Experiment 1 tested the goodness of the fit between two music genres (classical and jazz) and two painting genres (figurative and abstract). Participants were presented with twenty sets of six paintings (three figurative, three abstract) viewed in combination with three sound conditions: 1) silence, 2) classical music, or 3) jazz. While figurative paintings scored higher aesthetic appreciation than abstract ones, a gender effect was also found: the aesthetic appreciation of paintings in male participants was modulated by music genre, whilst music genre did not affect the aesthetic appreciation in female participants. Our results support only in part the notion that classical music enhances the aesthetic appreciation of figurative art. Experiment 2 aimed at testing whether the conceptual categories ‘figurative’ and ‘abstract’ can be extended also to music. In session 1, participants were first asked to classify 30 paintings (10 abstract, 10 figurative, 10 ambiguous that could fit either category) as abstract or figurative and then to rate them for pleasantness; in session 2 participants were asked to classify 40 excerpts of music (20 classical, 20 jazz) as abstract or figurative and to rate them for pleasantness. Paintings which were clearly abstract or figurative were all classified accordingly, while the majority of ambiguous paintings were classified as abstract. Results also show a gender effect for painting’s pleasantness: female participants rated higher ambiguous and abstract paintings. More interestingly, results show an effect of music genre on classification, showing that it is possible to classify music as figurative or abstract, thus supporting the hypothesis of cross-modal similarities between the two sensory-different artistic expressions.

E-motions are defined as those affective states the expressions of which—conveyed either by static faces or body posture—embody a dynamic component and, consequently, convey a higher sense of dynamicity than other emotional expressions. An experiment is presented, aimed at testing whether e-motions are perceived as such also by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), which have been associated with impairments in emotion recognition and in motion perception. To this aim we replicate with ASD individuals a study, originally conducted with typically developed individuals (TDs), in which we showed to both ASD and TD participants 14 bodiless heads and 14 headless bodies taken from eleven static artworks and four drawings. The Experiment was divided into two sessions. In Session 1 participants were asked to freely associate each stimulus to an emotion or an affective state (Task 1, option A); if they were unable to find a specific emotion, the experimenter showed them a list of eight possible emotions (words) and asked them to choose one from such list, that best described the affective state portrayed in the image (Task 1, option B). After their choice, they were asked to rate the intensity of the perceived emotion on a seven point Likert scale (Task 2). In Session 2 participants were requested to evaluate the degree of dynamicity conveyed by each stimulus on a 7 point Likert scale. Results showed that ASDs and TDs shared a similar range of verbal expressions defining emotions; however, ASDs (i) showed an impairment in the ability to spontaneously assign an emotion to a headless body, and (ii) they more frequently used terms denoting negative emotions (for both faces and bodies) as compared to neutral emotions, which in turn were more frequently used by TDs. No difference emerged between the two groups for positive emotions, with happiness being the emotion better recognized in both faces and in bodies. Although overall there are no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the emotions assigned to the images and the degree of perceived dynamicity, the interaction Artwork x Group showed that for some images ASDs assigned a different value than TDs to perceived dynamicity. Moreover, two images were interpreted by ASDs as conveying completely different emotions than those perceived by TDs. Results are discussed in light of the ability of ASDs to resolve ambiguity, and of possible different cognitive styles characterizing the aesthetical/emotional experience.

Report of the Conference about the Mediterranean held at the University of Salerno in September 2017, involving scholars of several disciplines.

Three experiments investigated the role of physical illumination on lightness perception in simultaneous lightness contrast (SLC). Four configurations were employed: the classic textbook version of the illusion and three configurations that produced either enhanced or reduced SLC. Experiment 1 tested the effect of ambient illumination on lightness perception. It simulated very dark environmental conditions that nevertheless still allowed perception of different shades of gray. Experiment 2 tested the effect of the intensity of Gelb lighting on lightness perception. Experiment 3 presented two conditions that integrated illumination conditions from Experiments 1 and 2. Our results demonstrated an illumination effect on both lightness matching and perceived SLC contrast: As the intensity of illumination increased, the target on the black background appeared lighter, while the target on the white background was little affected. We hypothesize the existence of two illumination ranges that affect lightness perception differently: low and normal . In the low range, the SLC contrast was reduced and targets appeared darker. In the normal range, the SLC contrast and lightness matchings for each background were little changed across illumination intensities.