Effect of intermittent acoustic stimuli on mental processes

In a Sternberg experiment, the influence of rhythmic acoustic stimuli on the scanning rate of short-term memory was studied. During the experiment, 60 subjects heard rhythmic or arrhythmic impulse noises with different rates of repetition. Results showed that the scanning rate of short-term memory is lowest if the impulses are arrhythmic. With rhythmic impulses at high rate of repetition, an accelerated scanning rate was obtained. The results can be interpreted as consequences of interference processes and as adaptational effects of internal processing rhythms.     

The expression of memorization in early childhood

This experiment examined the expression and effectiveness of memorization in young children. Sixty children at each of the ages 4, 5, and 6 were randomly assigned to a memory group or to one of two control groups. All of the children were told that they could play with a group of toys during a brief activity period; the children in the memory condition were also instructed to memorize a specified subset of the toys. Mnemonic mediators were identified on the basis of differences in the activity period behaviors of children given memory and play instructions. Relative to the children in the play groups, the children in the memory conditions played with the toys less; further, their use of naming and visual examination as mnemonic mediators differentiated the groups at all ages and increased with age. Only the oldest subjects given memory instructions, however, demonstrated superior recall. The relationships between activity period behavior and recall among the different conditions were explored with regression techniques. Although previous research has focused on identifying the earliest use of memory strategies, the present findings underscore the importance of examining the development of these skills.     

Effect of trait anger on cognitive processing of emotional stimuli

In the present experiment, the authors examined whether trait anger was associated with cognitive biases for anger-related semantic stimuli. Fifty-two undergraduate students completed the Trait Anger Scale (TAS; C. D. Spielberger, G. Jacobs, S. Russell, & R. Crane, 1983), and those reporting TAS scores in the upper (n = 17) or lower (n = 13) quartiles of the sample were assigned to high- and low-anger groups, respectively. The 30 participants then engaged in a lexical decision task that presented various emotion words, neutral words, and nonwords. Results indicated that individuals who reported high levels of trait anger displayed facilitative biases in the processing of semantic anger-related stimuli. This predisposition to more readily process anger-related information may underlie their propensity to experience intense feelings of anger when provoked.     

Effect of task demands on dual coding of pictorial stimuli

Recent studies have suggested that verbal labeling of a picture does not occur automatically. Although several experiments using paired-associate tasks produced little evidence indicating the use of a verbal code with picture stimuli, the tasks were probably not sensitive to whether the codes were activated initially. It is possible that verbal labels were activated at input, but not used later in performing the tasks. The present experiment used a color-naming interference task in order to assess, with a more sensitive measure, the amount of verbal coding occurring in response to word or picture input. Subjects named the color of ink in which words were printed following either word or picture input. If verbal labeling of the input occurs, then latency of color naming should increase when the input item and color-naming word are related. The results provided substantial evidence of such verbal activation when the input items were words. However, the presence of verbal activation with picture input was a function of task demands. Activation occurred when a recall memory test was used, but not when a recognition memory test was used. The results support the conclusion that name information (labels) need not be activated during presentation of visual stimuli.     

Effect of posttrial episodes on conditioning in compound conditioned stimuli

The effect of signaled and nonsignaled posttrial episodes (PTEs) on conditioning to the target CS of a preceding compound CS-US trial was examined in two conditioned emotional response (CER) experiments with rats. Experiment 1 revealed that a nonsignaled PTE, a second shock US, interfered with conditioning to the preceding target CS and that the interference effect of the PTE was greater when it occurred 5 sec as opposed to 1,800 sec after the preceding compound CS-US trial. Experiment 2 revealed that if the shock PTE was signaled by a CS, its ability to interfere with conditioning was reduced. This second study also revealed that omission of an "expected" US interfered with conditioning to the target CS. The implications of these data for information processing models of Pavlovian conditioning are discussed.     

关朗易学考论

在从两汉到唐宋时期的易学发展中,尤其是在河图洛书方面,关朗是一个比较重要的学者.但由于资料的匮乏,人们对其人其书缺乏了解和认识.该文从原始资料出发,先对其人的有无进行考证,再对其易著<关氏易传>作一辨正,并试图解决<洞极真经>的著作权问题,最后考述了关朗易学的传承脉络.在事实考证的基础上,确立了关朗在易学发展史上的地位,同时对文中子的研究亦有至为重要的作用.     

A new mathematical model for assessment of memorization dynamics

A new memory model is proposed based on regression analysis and exponential- shaped learning curves. The efficacy of the model is tested with several types of experiments including food aversion in snails, maze learning in rats and memory tests for adults and children. The model is also tested on drug abusers and alcoholics. The results of goodness of fit tests indicate that our model can accurately be used to predict the memory dynamics of diverse experiments and populations. The model can also be used to predict both group and individual performance. The application of the model to detect memory impairment is discussed, as are limitations.     

Effect of facial stimuli exposure time on evaluation of facial attractiveness

Facial attractiveness has advantages both socially and sexually, and the human brain has evolved to perceive specific facial characteristics as attractive. The current research examined the effect of facial stimuli exposure time on facial attractiveness evaluations. In Experiment 1, 86 students observed 44 facial stimuli in short and long amounts of time. To eliminate any influence of repeated stimuli on the second observations, Experiment 2 was performed on 84 participants who observed the facial stimuli in either short or long durations. Differences in both experiments were significant. These studies showed that exposure time has an influence on the evaluation of facial attractiveness. Participants who were exposed to facial stimuli for a short amount of time perceived greater facial attractiveness than when they were exposed for a longer time to the same stimuli. In other words, faces were more beautiful when they were observed in a short amount of time, and this effect occurred regardless of gender.     

Effect of subliminal stimuli on consumer behavior: negative evidence.

The study corrected methodological weaknesses found in previous experiments designed to test the contentions of motivational research theorists that subliminal stimulation can affect buying behavior. The words "Hershey's Chocolate" were presented to a group of 18 experimental Ss below a forced-choice detection threshold. The 19 control Ss had a blank slide superimposed over the same background media. In a highly controlled buying situation neither experimental nor control Ss purchased Hershey's products, but on comparable chocolate products, the experimental Ss bought 5 and the control Ss, 3. A second study tested 15 experimental and 12 control Ss with the stimulus presented just below a recognition threshold. No experimental Ss bought Hershey's; two control Ss did. No support was found for the claims of motivational research theorists.     

Stages of abstraction and exemplar memorization in pigeon category learning

It has been proposed that human category learning consists of an early abstraction-based stage followed by a later exemplar-memorization stage. To investigate whether similar processing stages extend to category learning in a nonverbal species, we applied a prototype-exception paradigm to investigating pigeon category learning. Five birds and 8 humans learned six-dimensional perceptual categories constructed to include prototypes, typical items, and exceptions. We evaluated the birds' and humans' categorization strategies at different points during learning. Early on in both species, prototype performance improved rapidly as exception performance remained below chance, indicating an initial mastery of the categories' general structure. Later on, exception performance improved selectively and dramatically, indicating exception-item resolution and exemplar memorization. Abstraction- and exemplar-based formal models reinforced these interpretations. The results suggest a psychological transition in pigeon category learning from abstraction- to exemplar-based processing similar to that found in humans.     

子夏易学考

据史籍记载,孔子弟子卜子夏学《易》传《易》,并有易学著作《子夏易传》。由于《子夏易传》早佚,以及其他原因,后世很多学者怀疑子夏传《易》之事。文献告诉我们,子夏学《易》传《易》应为事实。而《子夏易传》的一些佚文和其他有关文献,说明子夏易学主要承绪孔子,兼容《易》之“古义”和“新义”的特点。特别令我们注意的是,子夏研习并传授《归藏》,这透露了一个重大信息:在儒家易学的传承中,可能存在同时传授《周易》和《归藏》两大易学系统的传统。而这一点被以前的易学研究忽视了。     

《易序》作者略考

<易序>为朱熹著作<周易本义>中的一篇序文,但此文也被收入程颐的<程子遗文>及程颐的弟子周行己的<浮沚集>中.谁是<易序>的真正作者,众说纷纭.本文从文献的角度和思想的关联上断定朱熹是这篇序文的真正作者.     

Effect of signaling intertrial unconditioned stimuli in autoshaping

Context-unconditioned-stimulus (US) associations have been suggested as the mediator of the response decrement that occurs when extra USs are added to the intertrial intervals (ITIs) of an otherwise standard Pavlovian conditioning situation. The present autoshaping experiments were concerned with the effect of signaling those extra USs, since such signaling might be expected to lessen their ability to condition the context. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that signaling the ITI USs did reduce their detrimental effects on responding to the conditioned stimulus (CS). To determine whether that reduction was due to an impact of signaling on the target-CS-US association or on performance to the target-CS, Experiment 3 examined responding to differentially trained CSs in a common context, as well as responding to identically trained CSs in differentially trained contexts. Whether the CS was tested in a context of relatively high or low associative strength, more responding occurred to the CS trained with signaled, as compared with unsignaled, ITI USs; further, there was more responding to that CS in the more highly valued context. The pattern of results suggests that contextual value does interact with CS-US learning and may also affect performance to the CS.     

Effects of reading span and textual coherence on rapid-sequential reading

Subjects’ Comprehension and Memory of Conventional Presentations (Pages) And Rapid, Serial Visual Presentations (Rsvps) Of Text Were Investigated With A Statement-Recognition Test. Texts Were Presented With Sentences in An Intact Or A Scrambled Order At Rates Of 300 And 600 Words Per Minute (Wpm). Subjects’ Memory for Text Meaning And Surface Structure Was Better In 300-Than In 600-Wpm Conditions, And Subjects Retained More Textual Meaning From Coherent than Incoherent Texts Regardless of Display Rates. These Findings Are Inconsistent With the Idea That Rapid Reading Disrupts the Intersentence Integration Processes of Comprehension, but are Consistent With The Hypothesis of Consolidation Limitation: Furthermore, Subjects Were Separated Into Two Groups Based on Their Performance on the Reading Span Test of Daneman And Carpenter (1980). Low-Span Subjects Retained Significantly Less Text Meaning than High-Span Subjects with Pages, But They Did Almost As Well With RSVPs. This Interaction Suggests that the RSVP Technique Could Be Useful For Improving the Reading Abilities of Less Efficient Readers.     

Effect of interval between auditory and preceding visual stimuli on auditory sensitivity

Auditory thresholds were determined by a modified method of limits, in introverts, ambiverts and extraverts, under three intensities of light. Five determinations were made: one before, one during and three (30 sec., c. 8 and 16 min.) after the light stimulation. An analysis of variance of the data showed significant results for the interval conditions, the personality type and the interaction of these parameters, under the weak light. Interval effects were also significant under medium and strong light. A weak light increased, and a strong light decreased, auditory sensitivity when threshold determinations began 30 sec., but not more than about 8 min., after the light stimulation, in introverts.