Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
[NOTE: Learn to do proper headers using “ViewHeader & Footer”, then use to insert page numbers (see Formatting Palette) and ] to right-justify the header]
Running head: SPATIAL FREQUENCY THRESHOLDS FOR CATEGORIZATION
Spatial Frequency Thresholds for Object Categorization at Basic and Subordinate Levels
Charles A. Collin and Patricia McMullen*
McGill University, *Dalhousie University
Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
Abstract
The abstract should look like this, only a bit longer. It is a brief (one paragraph, 120 words, max) description of the study, including a sentence or two regarding each of the following: Context and hypotheses (what’s the problem being investigated, why is it important?), methodology (how are you going after answering your question?), anticipated findings (what do you think you’ll find?), implications of research (what would it all mean?). It should be accurate (don’t include anything not in the main body of the text), self-contained (define all abbreviations and unique terms), and concise (make every word count!). Do not indent the abstract, but do indent all other paragraphs in the text. The abstract goes on its own page.
[NOTE: Learn to do proper page-breaks, using “InsertBreakPage Break”]
Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
Spatial Frequency Thresholds for Object Categorization at Basic and Subordinate Levels
[Note: do NOT put the word “Introduction” here! Put the title, same as on title page, centered]
The introductory text starts here. You should open with a couple of paragraphs describing the main problem. Define the question/problem you’re looking at, briefly discuss why it’s important, and give some background so your reader has some context. Also give a general idea of how you are going to attack the problem and provide something novel.
The bulk of the intro is a discussion of previous work on the same question as your proposed study (and/or related questions). You should essentially answer the question “what do we already know about this topic?” so that your readers can see that you know something about this area, and so that we can see what you’re going to add to the knowledge base that isn’t already there. You should try to argue that there is a gap in the literature that you are going to fill, or that you’re going to take the literature in a new direction that hasn’t been explored before.
Do not discuss material from textbooks. Keep discussions of material from newspapers, web pages and the like to a minimum (an occasional illustrative example is okay, but don’t base your study idea on such sources). Cite studies in APA format, NOT in the MLA format you likely learned in high school. Do not mention the titles of articles in the intros, nor the authors’ first names. That is, instead of…
- “In Ruth Carter’s 1999 article entitled What We Know About Child Care and Why It’s All Wrong it is suggested that verbal punishment is ineffective.”
…just say:
“Carter (1999) suggests that verbal punishment is ineffective.”
Basically, forget everything you were taught in high school about citations and references.
Your discussion of past research should follow some kind of logical sequence. It should not just be a series of studies discussed in a disconnected manner. Chronological order is one way to do things, but you might also want to present one side of an argument and then the other. There are many valid ways to do it. Try to use good segues (linking sentences) between paragraphs.
Conclude your introduction by clearly stating your hypotheses and generally saying how you're going to address them (but keep details of methodology for next section)
Method
Participants
Here’s where you describe the people (or animals, or families...) you’re going to study. How many are you going to study? How are you going to recruit them (or obtain them, if they’re animals)? How are you going to assign them to groups? How are they going to be paid or rewarded (or are they volunteers)? For people, describe age, sex, and any other relevant characteristics. For animals, discuss species and other similar specifics.
Apparatus
Here’s where you discuss the equipment used to perform the experiment. Participants and confederates do NOT go here! Participants are described above. Confederates can be described under procedure, below (or, if it’s really an important part of your study, under a separate subheading of their own). You must provide sufficient detail so that someone wanting to go out and actually do your proposed study could do so. Do not mention obvious things like pencils and paper, or data analysis software. Do discuss special room set-ups, stimuli, etc.
Procedure
Tell me: what kind of study are you doing? If it’s an experiment, describe your design: How many factors are there in your design? What are they? What are their levels? Are they within or between? If it’s correlational, what variables are you measuring and how? If it’s a survey, what variables are you measuring, what instruments (questionnaires) are you using, etc.
Next describe the procedure: What exactly will the participants do and/or have done to them? Provide enough detail for someone to actually go and do the study.
Anticipated Results
This section should be relatively brief (2-4 paragraphs). What results do you expect? How are you going to analyze these results? Be sure that your anticipated results match your experimental design: If it’s a factorial experiment, for instance, what interactions are you expecting?
DO NOT make up “pretend” data. Instead, talk about your expected results in general terms. E.g., “We expect to see lower levels of depression in the group with therapy than in the control group” NOT “We expect to see a level of 10.2 in the therapy group and a level of 15.3 in the control group”.
Discussion
Assuming you obtain your anticipated results, what would it mean about the hypotheses you presented in your introduction? What does it say about the findings of previous studies you discussed? Are there any weaknesses of your study that make your conclusions tentative? How might you overcome them in later research projects? What, if any, are the ethical issues in your study? (Only discuss ethical issues that present a potential problem in your study, not those that are okay).
You may also propose some future directions you might take this research, but only if you have a good rationale for doing so.
Your concluding paragraph (or two) should wrap up everything, describing the meaning of your study and giving enough background to provide context.
[Note: All sections of the main body (intro, method, results, discussion) follow each other directly. That is, they do not start on new pages, there isn’t even an extra space between the heading and the previous section]
References
[NOTE: APA format is VERY picky about the way you do references. Examples are provided below for a journal article (one author), a journal article with multiple authors, a book, a dissertation, and an in press journal article. See Goodwin, my slides, or APA manual for other types of sources]
Bachmann, T. (1991). Identification of spatially quantised tachistoscopic images of faces: How many pixels does it take to carry identity? European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 3, 87-103.
Boutet, I., Collin, C.A., & Faubert, J. (2003). Configural face encoding and spatial frequency information. Perception & Psychophysics, 65, 1078-1093.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Collin, C.A. (2003). Effects of spatial frequency overlap on face and object recognition. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: the Sciences & Engineering, 63(7-B), 3500.
Collin, C.A., Liu, C.H., Troje, N., McMullen, P.A., & Chaudhuri, A. (in press). Effects of spatial frequency overlap on face and object recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance.
Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
Appendix
This is a strictly optional section: Insert any appendices (questionnaires, instructions, any general extras) here. Each appendix starts on its own page. If there are several, call them Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. If you have an Appendix, you must mention it somewhere in the text!
Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
Footnotes
1 Footnotes, in APA format, all go at the end. I know what you’re thinking: “Doesn’t that make them end notes?!” No, they’re still called footnotes. Have I mentioned that I didn’t make up these rules? But seriously, the reason is that the notes will end up going at the bottoms of pages in the published version of the ms.
2 Indent each footnote like this, starting each one on a new line.
Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
Table 1
An Example of An APA Style Table For a 2x2x2 Experimental Design
______
Variable A
______
Variable B Level A1 Level A2
______
Level B1
Level C1 Data A1B1C1 Data A2B1C1
Level C2 Data A1B1C2 Data A2B1C2
Level B2
Level C1 Data A1B2C1 Data A2B2C1
Level C2 Data A1B2C2 Data A2B2C2
Table 2
Mean reduction in Depressive Symptoms as a Function of Gender and Type of Therapy
______
Gender
______
Therapy Type Male Female
______
CBT 6.1 ± 2.2 4.4 ± 2.1
EFT 4.1 ± 3.2 9.4 ± 1.1 Psychoanalysis 4.1 ± 0.2 6.4 ± 2.1
Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
Figure Captions
[figure captions, if any, go here. For each figure, give a separate figure caption. But put the figures, one to a page, on the following pages.]
Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
[Figures, if any, go here at the end. One to a page]