Repetition effects on word fragment completion: The role of competition among responses

Four experiments examined the effect of spaced repetition of study words on completion of word fragments with only one solution and word fragments with multiple solutions. Recognition was used as test of explicit memory in the first two experiments. The study words were presented either once or three times. Repetition was found to increase recognition memory substantially, and to affect fragment completion performance only marginally. This was true for both single- and multiple-solution fragments, showing that competition among responses is not critical for the magnitude of the repetition effect in fragment completion. This finding, that the repetition effect is marginal also when the type of cues provides an occasion for repetition effects to show up, suggests that the real effect of repetition on perceptual priming is borderline. It is proposed that memory from the first presentation eliminates necessary processing of items when they are re-exposed, and that the repetition effect thereby is reduced.     

Acquisition of locational information about reference points during blindfolded and sighted locomotion: Effects of a concurrent task and locomotion paths

Acquisition of cognitive maps (locational information about reference points) was investigated by requiring subjects to walk repeatedly according to paths consisting of 2, 4 and 6 linear segments. The starting point of each path was designated as a reference point, to which direction and distance were estimated by the subjects at the end of the path. Acquisition was indicated by the finding that variable errors and latencies decreased across blocks of trials. Interfering with central processing of locational information during locomotion by means of a concurrent task, while impairing orientation performance, did not seem to prevent acquisition. As suggested by an increase in latencies with the number of path segments, the subjects performing the concurrent task may have been able to infer and store the location of the starting point after walking. Finally, orientation performance did not improve for blindfolded subjects, probably because they were unable to use stored information about locations.     

Decomposing the encoding of action events: A dual conception

Two experiments are reported in which we tested the hypothesis that encoding of verbal features of subject-performed tasks or SPTs (e.g., bounce the ball, lift the spoon) is attention-demanding and effortful, whereas physical features of this memory task (e.g., color, weight) are acquired with little effort, and without deliberate encoding strategies. In Experiment 1, subjects were asked to perform a series of SPTs and were examined on recall of verbal instructions and colors of objects involved under conditions of focused or divided attention. In Experiment 2, performance of a series of SPTs was followed by recall of verbal instructions and recall of weights of objects involved. Results of both experiments indicated that recall of the verbal task component was negatively affected by requirements of dual-task performance, whereas recall of both physical task features was equally good in both encoding conditions. The obtained pattern of outcome is interpreted as supportive of the dual conception hypothesis of the nature of the encoding of action events.     

Overt repetition as a means of controlling rehearsal

Abstract.— Three different ways of using the concept of rehearsal were discussed. Examples were presented showing confusions in the literature due to a failure to distinguish these three definitions. A free recall experiment was conducted with the purpose of investigating three problems relating to the concept of rehearsal: ( a ) an unclear relationship between overt and covert repetition, ( b ) whether overt repetition excluded other control processes, and (c) whether a shallow repetition produces a permanent memory trace or not. Using a pronounced time pressure it was demonstrated first that overt repetition facilitated recall performance of recency items and that recall of primacy items was facilitated by covert repetition. Secondly, it was shown that overt repetition did not exclude other types of encoding. Finally, a shallow maintaining repetition did not produce a permanent memory trace. The results are interpreted as supporting a level of processing point of view rather than a multistore approach.     

THE EFFECTS OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT POLICIES ON REACTIONS TO HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: AN INTEGRATION OF PRIVACY AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVES

The goal of the present study was to extend research on information privacy and fairness by examining these constructs within the context of human resource information systems. Using a 2 × 2 experimental design and data from 124 employed subjects in an organization that was in the process of developing a human resource information system, the present study examined the main and interactive effects of policies concerning ability to authorize disclosure (ability to authorize vs. no ability to authorize) and target of disclosure (internal to the organization vs. external to the organization) on invasion of privacy perceptions and fairness perceptions. Results of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicated that the independent variables had main and interactive effects on both fairness perceptions and invasion of privacy perceptions. Moreover, a confirmatory factor analysis suggested that invasion of privacy perceptions and fairness perceptions are distinct constructs. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Overweight and cognition

There is a growing concern among health authorities that an increasing number of people in the Western world become overweight and even obese. It is well known that obesity is related to several diseases (e.g., diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure) and that such diseases related to obesity lead to early death. It has also been discussed whether overweight and obesity in themselves or in relation to such diseases lead to cognitive decline. On the basis of data from a large, population‐based, prospective study we examined three cognitive domains: episodic memory, semantic memory, and spatial ability. Two body measures were used to define normal weight and overweight, body‐mass index and waist/hip ratio. Although these two body measures reveal quite different prevalence data of overweight, the associations between overweight and cognition are similar. For episodic memory, overweight interacts with age, but when controlling for hypertension, stroke and diabetes, this interaction disappears. For semantic memory, normal weight participants outperform overweight participants even after controlling for these diseases. For spatial ability, the well‐established advantage for men holds for young‐old and old‐old normal‐weight participants. For overweight participants, this advantage holds for middle‐age participants only. We conclude that there is a weight‐cognition relationship even after controlling for obesity‐related diseases. The results are discussed in terms of possible biological mechanisms.     

Self-esteem as a better predictor of restrained eaters' food intake than attributional style and disinhibition tendency

In the present study, a weight increase or decrease was experimentally manipulated in restrained and unrestrained eating subjects. It was hypothesized that restrained eating subjects in the high-weight condition will attribute the cause of this important negative event to internal, stable, and global factors. Such a depressogenic attributional style was expected to be reflected in a more depressed mood which, in its turn, should trigger disinhibitive eating during a bogus taste test. Moreover, it was hypothesized that high scores on Zuckerman's disinhibition subscale and low self-esteem were related to larger food intake. Main findings were that a manipulated weight increase indeed lowered the mood of restrained eaters, whereas it had no effect on the mood of unrestrained eaters. However, the weight increase and the mood decrease of restrained subjects in the high-weight condition were not reflected in a more depressive attributional style and increased food intake. Level of self-esteem appeared to be the best and only predictor of restrained eaters' food intake with lower-self-esteem subjects eating less during the taste test. Moreover, although the restrained subjects scored significantly higher on a general measure of disinhibition than the unrestrained ones, disinhibition was not a very strong predictor of food intake. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.