Perceptual processes underlying individual differences in face-recognition ability remain poorly understood. We compared visual sampling of 37 adult super-recognizers—individuals with superior face-recognition ability—with that of 68 typical adult viewers by measuring gaze position as they learned and recognized unfamiliar faces. In both phases, participants viewed faces through “spotlight” apertures that varied in size, with face information restricted in real time around their point of fixation. We found higher accuracy in super-recognizers at all aperture sizes—showing that their superiority does not rely on global sampling of face information but is also evident when they are forced to adopt piecemeal sampling. Additionally, super-recognizers made more fixations, focused less on eye region, and distributed their gaze more than typical viewers. These differences were most apparent when learning faces and were consistent with trends we observed across the broader ability spectrum, suggesting that they are reflective of factors that vary dimensionally in the broader population.

In the last 20 years, there has been increasing interest in studying visual attentional processes under more natural conditions. In the present study, we propose to determine the critical age at which children show similar to adult performance and attentional control in a visually guided task; in a naturalistic dynamic and socially relevant context: road crossing. We monitored visual exploration and crossing decisions in adults and children aged between 5 and 15 while they watched road traffic videos containing a range of traffic densities with or without pedestrians. 5–10 year old (y/o) children showed less systematic gaze patterns. More specifically, adults and 11–15 y/o children look mainly at the vehicles’ appearing point, which is an optimal location to sample diagnostic information for the task. In contrast, 5–10 y/os look more at socially relevant stimuli and attend to moving vehicles further down the trajectory when the traffic density is high. Critically, 5-10 y/o children also make an increased number of crossing decisions compared to 11–15 y/os and adults. Our findings reveal a critical shift around 10 y/o in attentional control and crossing decisions in a road crossing task.

Exploring potential mechanisms underpinning the therapeutic effects of surfing" Get in and wrestle with the sea; wing your heels with the skill and power that reside in you, hit the sea's breakers, master them, and ride upon their backs as a king should."Jack LondonFrom its roots in ancient Polynesian and Hawaiian cultures, the twentieth century saw surfing spread around the world to become a popular sport and leisure activity (Finney & Houston, 1996). Despite the popularity of surfing, there has been little scientific research to date investigating motivations for, and benefits from, surfing. However, several cross-sectional studies have found depression and anxiety to be lower in surfers (Amrhein, Barkhoff, & Heiby, 2016;Levin & Taylor, 2011) and surfing has been found to provide a sense of respite from symptoms of trauma in combat veterans (Caddick, Phoenix, & Smith, 2015a;Caddick, Smith, & Phoenix, 2015b). Furthermore, a small but growing number of studies have also investigated the effects of surfing-based mental health interventions. Although there is variation in specific design, surf therapy programs typically involve group-based surfing instruction, and can contain elements of psychoeducation, self-care and wellbeing discussions, creating a safe-space, socialization, and community and rapport building.Although still largely preliminary, the results are promising. For instance, studies have found decreases in anxiety and depression in veterans as a result of these programs (Rogers, Mallinson, & Peppers, 2014;Walter et al., 2019). Surf therapy programs for at-risk youth and youth with disabilities have also reported various benefits such as improvements in behavior, social skills, self-esteem, emotion regulation, and psychological well-being (Cavanaugh & Rademacher,