Neuromotor profiles: what are they and what can we learn from them?

Eye movements, alternating movements, rapid pointing movements, and various tremors were measured on patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 21), on Cree subjects exposed to methylmercury (n = 36), and on healthy control subjects (n = 30). Neuromotor profiles were created according to thirty characteristics extracted from test results of four subgroups matched for age and composed of six subjects each. Z scores were calculated with respect to the mean and standard deviation of the control group for each of the 30 characteristics. The subgroup with the lower methylmercury blood level had larger z scores than the control subgroup and with a few positive values above one standard deviation. The subgroup with the higher methylmercury blood level had several z scores above two standard deviations. Interestingly, the abnormal values for the subgroup with Parkinson's disease were mostly limited to static tremor recorded with no visual feedback and reached up to 5 standard deviations. These results indicate that neuromotor profiles can be used to summarize information extracted from different neuromotor tests and to differentiate neurological conditions.     

Words: what are they, and do animals have them?

Since the word is not a well-defined entity like the sentence, one looks for findings that may help to clarify it. The effect of nonsense words on the young child's sorting of taxonomic versus thematic alternatives is said to be such a finding. A young child given, say, duck as a sample, goose and nest as alternatives, picks nest (thematic alternative), whereas the older child picks goose (taxonomic). However, if told the duck is called "ZLT" in Croatian, and asked to "find another ZLT", the young child shifts to goose. Markman and Hutchinson (1984) claim this demonstrates that young children know that words are "names of object categories" (and that this knowledge protects them against false hypotheses, facilitating their acquisition of words). In the present study, we applied the Markman et al. procedure to young "language-trained" chimpanzees. The animals were at an early stage of training, having used "words" solely in the function "X goes with Y", or "if shown X, get Y". Although these functions are notably weaker than "X is the name of a category", the animals showed a thematic-taxonomic shift, thus behaving like young children. The Markman-Hutchinson interpretation of the shift effect is unsatisfactory in two respects: (1) the shift effect can be explained without attributing any knowledge of what a word is to either creature, child or ape; more important (2), the interpretation does not address the main question: what is a "name" and what does a child think it is? We conclude with a discussion of what a word is, appealing to information retrieval on the one hand, and intention to refer on the other.     

Why do employees engage in counterproductive work behaviours? Cultural values and white-collar employees in China

This study examines the role of cultural values in influencing counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs). In particular, it focuses on the cultural values of power distance, long-term orientation and collectivism (both horizontal and vertical collectivism) as well as the Confucian values of guanxi and harmony. In line with recent approaches in moral psychology and sociology, we consider how Confucian values become moral triggers or inhibitors for employees to engage in CWB. In addition, we consider the moderating effects of guanxi and harmony on the relationships between the cultural values of power distance, long-term orientation, collectivism and CWB. The results from a survey of 489 white-collar employees in China confirmed the importance of cultural values in influencing CWB. Specifically, our findings indicate that guanxi moderates the relationship between cultural values and CWB and acts as a moral trigger for an employee to engage in CWB. With the exception of horizontal collectivism, we also found that harmony moderates the relationship between cultural values and CWB. Specifically, harmony acts as a moral inhibitor for an employee to engage in CWB. Lastly, we discuss the implications of the findings for theory and practice in the context of managing an increasingly global workplace and business environment.

     

Models of verbal working memory capacity: what does it take to make them work?

Theories of working memory (WM) capacity limits will be more useful when we know what aspects of performance are governed by the limits and what aspects are governed by other memory mechanisms. Whereas considerable progress has been made on models of WM capacity limits for visual arrays of separate objects, less progress has been made in understanding verbal materials, especially when words are mentally combined to form multiword units or chunks. Toward a more comprehensive theory of capacity limits, we examined models of forced-choice recognition of words within printed lists, using materials designed to produce multiword chunks in memory (e.g., leather brief case). Several simple models were tested against data from a variety of list lengths and potential chunk sizes, with test conditions that only imperfectly elicited the interword associations. According to the most successful model, participants retained about 3 chunks on average in a capacity-limited region of WM, with some chunks being only subsets of the presented associative information (e.g., leather brief case retained with leather as one chunk and brief case as another). The addition to the model of an activated long-term memory component unlimited in capacity was needed. A fixed-capacity limit appears critical to account for immediate verbal recognition and other forms of WM. We advance a model-based approach that allows capacity to be assessed despite other important processing contributions. Starting with a psychological-process model of WM capacity developed to understand visual arrays, we arrive at a more unified and complete model.     

Use them or lose them: Are manipulatives needed to assess numeracy and geometry performance in preschool?

In two studies, we investigated whether using three-dimensional (3D) manipulatives during assessment aided performance on a variety of preschool mathematics tasks compared to pictorial representations. On measures of children's understanding of counting and cardinality (n = 103), there was no difference in performance between manipulatives and pictures, with Bayes factors suggesting moderate evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. On a measure of children's shape identification (n = 93), there was no difference in performance between objects and pictures, with Bayes factors suggesting moderate evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. These results suggest flexibility in the materials that can be used during assessment. Pictures, or 2D renderings of 3D objects, which can be easily printed and reproduced, may be sufficient for assessing counting and shape knowledge without the need for more cumbersome concrete manipulatives.     

Development: Compared to what?: Contrast effects in age-comparative paradigms

Recent controversies about judgment competence of preschool and adolescent children are considered as being a possible product of contrast effects. That is, perceived abilities of children of a given age group may depend on the ages of the other subjects in the experiment. An experiment was done to test the possibility of contrast effects in age-comparative experiments. One group of subjects read about three experimental tasks in which 6-year-old children performed better than 4-year-olds. A second group read about 6-year-olds performing worse than 8-year-olds on the same tasks. Performance levels of 6-year-olds were the same on the two forms. For each task subjects rated the competence of each of the two age groups on the task and predicted the performance of the two groups on a related task. Undergraduate subjects' competence ratings and predictions were higher for 6-year-olds when compared to 4-year-olds than when compared to 8-year-olds. Psychology graduate students showed the same contrast effect for predictions but not for competence ratings. The results are discussed in terms of potential biases in age-comparative methods in developmental psychology.     

Do worksite stress management programs attract the employees who need them and are they effective?

Employees who planned to attend a worksite stress management program (volunteers), those who planned not to attend (nonvolunteers), and those who had participated in worksite stress management training were assessed on the variables of work stressors, perceived stress, and organizational spontaneity (extrarole) behavior. Twelve hundred hospital employees were randomly selected from seven VA hospitals that had been offering a stress management program for at least 5 years. Participants received questionnaire packets in the mail and 461 (38%) of the employees responded. The results showed that volunteers reported significantly more perceived stress than the nonvolunteers. However, volunteers did not report greater frequency or intensity of work stressors. Also, respondents who had participated in past stress training reported less perceived stress than volunteers and significantly more organizational spontaneity behavior than respondents who had not participated in past stress training. These findings suggest that employees who plan to attend stress training have the greatest need and that the stress intervention reduces perceived stress levels and, possibly, affects work behavior.     

Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: an attentional blink? .

Through rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), we asked Ss to identify a partially specified letter (target) and then to detect the presence or absence of a fully specified letter (probe). Whereas targets are accurately identified, probes are poorly detected when they are presented during a 270-ms interval beginning 180 ms after the target. Probes presented immediately after the target or later in the RSVP stream are accurately detected. This temporary reduction in probe detection was not found in conditions in which a brief blank interval followed the target or Ss were not required to identify the target. The data suggest that the presentation of stimuli after the target but before target-identification processes are complete produces interference at a letter-recognition stage. This interference may cause the temporary suppression of visual attention mechanisms observed in the present study.     

Multiple cues for quantification in infancy: is number one of them?

A review and synthesis of the literature on quantification in infancy and early childhood is provided. In most current conceptualizations, early quantification is assumed to be number based. However, the extant literature provides no clear-cut evidence that infants use number to perform quantitative tasks. Instead, new research suggests that quantification is initially based on nonnumerical cues, such as area and contour length, whether or not a task involves discrete items. The authors discuss the implications of these findings with respect to early quantification and its relation to later numerical development.     

The counselor: who? what?

The author examines the criticisms of counselors which center on such factors as age, sex, race, and elitism. Areas of confusion regarding the functions of the counselor are related to the teacher-counselor issue, the professional functions of the counselor, and the basic purpose of counseling. The counselor is seen primarily as doing psychological counseling with individuals and groups, rather than teaching or advising.     

The altruistic personality: in what contexts is it apparent?

Hypotheses concerning the specific contexts in which an altruistic personality might be most apparent were investigated. College students completed questionnaires tapping components of an altruistic personality, emotionality, and social desirability. At a 2nd session, the emotional evocativeness and ease of escape from the helping situation were experimentally manipulated. Ss were exposed to a distressed woman, completed state sympathy and personal distress indexes, and were given an opportunity to assist the woman. High scorers on dispositional altruism were expected to assist most when escape was easy, particularly when the distress cues were obvious. Altruistic and emotionally reactive persons were also expected to help most in a psychologically "weak" environment. Both predictions were supported. The relations between helping and the other predictors were also examined.     

“You know what to do with them”: The formulation of orders and engagement in war crimes

Based on a study of historical and social−psychological literature, this article examines the various strategies to which political, military, and police authorities have recourse to incite subordinates to engage in atrocities. Our hypothesis is that the formulation of orders plays an important role in processes aiming to get individuals to engage in war crimes. We studied three contexts (the Second World War, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) allowing us to propose a categorization of military orders to massacre or torture into five types: orders that give a choice, or are partial, coded, ambiguous, or fragmented. We add another specific category to the analysis, orders in the act. The analysis shows that in a democratic context, those giving orders tend to privilege vague, ambiguous, or partial orders, preserving appearances by being attentive to what may be verbalized and legality. In dictatorial contexts, order-givers tend instead to privilege explicit orders while trying to soften the psychological impact on subordinates (orders that give a choice, are coded, or are fragmented). We then discuss the consequences in terms of responsibility between the hierarchy and the executants.     

Covariation and quantifier polarity: what determines causal attribution in vignettes?

Tests of causal attribution often use verbal vignettes, with covariation information provided through statements quantified with natural language expressions. The effect of covariation information has typically been taken to show that set size information affects attribution. However, recent research shows that quantifiers provide information about discourse focus as well as covariation information. In the attribution literature, quantifiers are used to depict covariation, but they confound quantity and focus. In four experiments, we show that focus explains all (Experiment 1) or some (Experiment 2-4) of the impact of covariation information on the attributions made, confirming the importance of the confound. Attribution experiments using vignettes that present covariation information with natural language quantifiers may overestimate the impact of set size information, and ignore the impact of quantifier-induced focus.     

Advance preparation in task switching: what work is being done?

The preparation effect in task switching is usually interpreted to mean that a switching process makes use of the interval between task-cue onset and trial-stimulus onset (the cue-stimulus interval, or CSI) to accomplish some of its work ahead of time. This study undermines the empirical basis for this interpretation and suggests that task activation, not task switching, is the functional process in cognitive control. Experiments 1 and 2 used an explicit cuing paradigm, and Experiments 3 and 4 used a variation in which the trial after a task cue was followed by several cueless trials, requiring retention of the cue in memory. Experiments 1 and 3 replicated the preparation effect on switch cost, and Experiments 2 and 4 showed that this effect vanishes when CSI is manipulated between subjects, leaving only a main effect of CSI when the task cue is a memory load.     

Individual differences in mental rotation: what does gesture tell us?

Gestures are common when people convey spatial information, for example, when they give directions or describe motion in space. Here, we examine the gestures speakers produce when they explain how they solved mental rotation problems (Shepard and Meltzer in Science 171:701–703, 1971). We asked whether speakers gesture differently while describing their problems as a function of their spatial abilities. We found that low-spatial individuals (as assessed by a standard paper-and-pencil measure) gestured more to explain their solutions than high-spatial individuals. While this finding may seem surprising, finer-grained analyses showed that low-spatial participants used gestures more often than high-spatial participants to convey “static only” information but less often than high-spatial participants to convey dynamic information. Furthermore, the groups differed in the types of gestures used to convey static information: high-spatial individuals were more likely than low-spatial individuals to use gestures that captured the internal structure of the block forms. Our gesture findings thus suggest that encoding block structure may be as important as rotating the blocks in mental spatial transformation.