Spatial Frequency & Categorization 1
[NOTE: Learn to do proper headers using “ViewHeader & Footer”, then use
insert page numbers (see Formatting Palette) and ]
to
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
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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 “InsertBreakPage Break”]
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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.
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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
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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).
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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]
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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 C1
Data A1B2C1
Data A2B2C1
Level C2
Data A1B2C2
Data A2B2C2
Level B2
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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
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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.]
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[Figures, if any, go here at the end. One to a page]