Purposive behaviour in cognition and perception: Considerations of awareness in memory

The responses to the original article by Rönnberg (1990a) provoked interesting and thoughtful points of view that are covered by Gärling (1990), Hjelmquist (1990), Montgomery (1991), and Runeson (1990). These articles do not merely present a different outlook but also provide concepts that are certainly worthy of consideration and add more substance to the general topic under discussion. The purpose of this commentary is to seek an understanding of the ideas presented by the above authors within a synthesis of our views of current conceptualizations in cognition and perception. Each of the original criteria (Rönnberg, 1990a) will be treated in turn.     

Stimulus conditions affecting rate of acquisition in a computer-operated version of the two-way active avoidance procedure

Several experiments were performed with rats in order to investigate the stimulus conditions affecting the rate of acquisition of two-way active avoidance. The number of trials per session, the duration of the Conditioned Stimulus (CS), the intertrial interval (pause time), and the intensity of the shock presentation were each varied in separate experiments. The optimal, yet practicable, conditions required to obtain a fast rate of acquisition included 40 to 60 trials per session, a 40-sec intertrial interval, a 10-sec Conditioned Stimulus presentation and a shock intensity of 1.0 mA. These results are discussed with regard to the problem of standardization in behavioral research manipulating biological independent variables.     

Temporal factors in audition and vision: A functional emphasis

Sixty-four subjects were tested in an experiment relating temporal factors to the modality effect. The experiment involved both an immediate recall and a recognition phase. Recall scores supported a functional view of the modality effect, while the one-and two-store models only partially predicted the data. The recognition data could only be accounted for in functional terms. A non-parametric compatibility score was suggested to capture the recognition performance. The effect of a shift of input mode (in Phase I) to test mode (in Phase II) was also analyzed.     

The role of noradrenaline in learned behaviors: studies using DSP4

DSP4 (N-2-chloroethyl-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine) is a novel noradrenaline (NA) neurotoxin sufficiently selective, following systemic administration, to be a pharmacological tool of much potential; this possibility has warranted the extensive use of DSP4 to study the role of noradrenaline in learned behaviors. Thus, after DSP4 treatment (50 mg/kg) a very robust two-way active avoidance impairment is incurred and this deficit remained over a wide range of stimulus conditions and parameters. On the other hand, the acquisition of relatively simple tasks such as one-way active avoidance, fear conditioning, step-down passive avoidance and taste-aversion conditioning, was only slightly affected or not affected at all. DSP4 administration caused a retardation of the rate of acquisition of a "right-turn" running response for food reward in a modified T-maze, and an attenuation of the exteroceptive context effect in taste-aversion conditioning and extinction. In spite of a few similar results, NA-depletions following DSP4 generally do not produce the same behavioral effects as the 6-Hydroxydopamine lesions but are more akin to the locus coeruleus lesion. An hypothesis of the role of central NA, based mainly upon the shuttle box procedure, incorporates a function in establishing the Signal-Response association, in adapting to situations that require a correct response to stress and in maintaining an adequate span of attention to the range of environmental events presented in any given learning situation.     

THE DISCLOSURE-LIKING RELATIONSHIP

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of a perceiver's own disclosure on attraction for self-disclosing others. In Experiment 1, female undergraduates selected two topics and disclosed information on them to a confederate partner. This disclosure occurred either before or after the confederate disclosed information on three different topics that were either high or low in intimacy. Based on self-perception theory, it was predicted and found that intimacy of the subject's self-disclosure would be positively correlated with attraction for the confederate when the subject disclosed before her partner but not when she disclosed after her partner. A second prediction that subjects would be attracted toward a highly intimate partner only if they had previously disclosed was not confirmed. Instead, attraction for the confederate was greater when she had disclosed before the subject and when she had disclosed intimately. Experiment 2 varied the intimacy of the response of a partner to the subject's initial self-disclosure and whether this response dealt with the same topics or different topics. It was found that attraction was greater for an intimate than a nonintimate partner when topics for disclosure were the same. When disclosure topics were different, there was no significant difference in attraction for the intimate and nonintimate partner. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the disclosure-liking hypothesis.     

IS IT WORTH IT TO WIN THE TALENT WAR? EVALUATING THE UTILITY OF PERFORMANCE‐BASED PAY

Although the business press suggests that "winning the talent war," the attraction and retention of key talent, is increasingly pivotal to organization success, executives often report that their organizations do not fare well on this dimension. We demonstrate how, through integrating turnover and compensation research, the Boudreau and Berger (1985) staffing utility framework can be used by I-O psychologists and other HR professionals to address this issue. Employing a step-by-step process that combines organization-specific information about pay and performance with research on the pay-turnover linkage, we estimate the effects of incentive pay on employee separation patterns at various performance levels. We then use the utility framework to evaluate the financial consequences of incentive pay as an employee retention vehicle. The demonstration illustrates the limitations of standard accounting and behavioral cost-based approaches and the importance of considering both the costs and benefits associated with pay-for-performance plans. Our results suggest that traditional accounting or behavioral cost-based approaches, used alone, would have supported rejecting a potentially lucrative pay-for-performance investment. In addition, our approach should enable HR professionals to use research findings and their own data to estimate the retention patterns and subsequent financial consequences of their existing, and potential, company-specific performance-based pay policies.     

The Relationship between Family Developmental Crisis and the Appearance of Symptoms in a Family Member

To assess the relation between family crisis and the onset of symptoms in family members, 90 families in an outpatient facility were studied to determine the elapsed time between the appearance of symptoms and two types of family crisis: addition of a family member and loss of a family member. For each type of crisis, results clearly indicated a significant and positive relationship between family developmental crises and symptom onset. At the same time, it was acknowledged that the strength of this relationship was only moderate, findings were correlational, and conclusions may not be applicable to other samples.