Age and forgetfulness: perceivers' impressions of targets' capability.

In a person perception paradigm, 72 young and 72 old adult Ss listened to tape recordings of a nonforgetful, moderately forgetful, or highly forgetful female target person being interviewed for a volunteer job. Ss then rated their opinion of the target's memory and how likely they would be to assign the target to easy and difficult tasks. Overall, Ss gave higher memory opinion ratings to old than to young targets. As expected, they were more likely to assign tasks to nonforgetful than to forgetful targets. However, they were more egalitarian than was hypothesized in their task assignment ratings for forgetful young versus forgetful old targets.     

Human spatial orientation in the pitch dimension

Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment I, each of eight Ss attempted to place himself at 13 different goal orientations between prone and supine. Deviations of achieved body pitch angles from goal orientations were determined. In Experiment II, each of eight Ss attempted to align a visual target with his morphological horizon while he was placed at each of the 13 goal orientations. Changes in settings of the target were examined. Results indicate that Ss underestimate body pitch when they are tilted less than 60 deg backward or forward from the vertical, overestimate body pitch when they are nearly prone, and accurately estimate body pitch when they are nearly supine. In contrast, Ss set the visual target maximally above the morphological horizon when they are tilted 30 deg forward from the vertical. The findings are discussed in terms of common and different physiological mechanisms that may underlie judgments of these types.     

规则策略和样例策略在归类过程中的运

探讨人们在归类过程中对规则策略和样例策略的运用。包括3个实验,被试为华南师范大学110名本科生。用计算机呈现类别学习材料,被试学习后立即进行归类迁移测试,考察被试的归类策略倾向。实验1提高了Erickson和Kruchke研究中例外类别规则的清晰性,考察当学习材料中潜在规则易于掌握时,被试是否会倾向于运用规则策略进行归类;实验2探讨当学习材料中的潜在规则较难掌握时,被试是否会倾向于运用样例策略进行归类;实验3探讨人们在运用规则进行归类时对不同规则选用的特点。结果表明：当学习情境中潜在规则易于掌握时,被试倾向于运用规则策略进行归类;当潜在规则难以掌握时,被试则倾向于运用样例策略进行归类;当同时可以运用不同规则时,被试会选用更概括、更有普遍性的规则而弃用较具体、适用范围较限定的规则。据此,研究初步认为,人们在归类中首选的是规则策略,只有当学习情境中潜在规则难以掌握时,才转而采用样例策略;当有多种规则可以选择时,则倾向于选择更概括、更有普遍意义的规则     

Switching attention between the ears to monitor tones Nigel Harvey

Alternating dichotic presentation of tones was compared with monaural presentation in two different perceptual tasks. When Ss were asked to detect higher frequency target tones in fists of six background tones, they missed less than 5%. However, when the presentation was fast (10/sec) and the tones alternated dichotically, Ss reported “hearing” only three or four tones. In two further experiments, Ss were asked to judge the number of tones or to report their spatial and temporal positions; these tasks were much less accurately performed, for the dichotic lists, than the target detection task. The differing effects of switching rate on these tasks are discussed in relation to the types of processing they require.     

Symbolic representation across domains in preschool children

The study examines children's understanding of notational representation. Children 3 to 5 years old were shown a card containing a notation and told what it said. The children were asked to say what was printed on the card 3 times: when it was under a display named by the notation, when it was under a different display, and finally when it had been returned to the original position. In Study 1, the card contained a word or a picture indicating object identity or a numeral or an analogue indicating quantity. All the children could solve the problems containing pictures, numerals, or analogues, but the word condition was difficult and children believed that the word changed when the card moved to the new display. In Study 2, the comparison between object names and quantities was made more equitable by introducing easy and difficult versions of each condition. This time, there was little difference between cards indicating names and those indicating quantities but large differences in children's ability to solve the problem as a function of their familiarity with the notation that was written. The results point to weaknesses in children's understanding of how representations refer to meanings.     

Some Comments on the Methodological Significance of the Definition of a Response

Evidence in the present study, in conjunction with evidence in previous studies, indicates that sensory or perceptual factors do not account for the slowing that occurs in later life. Elderly Ss are slower than young adult Ss, but, up to the point of fairly weak stimulation (55 db), they are as slow in relation to auditory stimuli that are loud and easy to perceive as they are to stimuli more difficult to perceive. An unanticipated interaction involving stimulus intensity was observed which warrants further attention. When, in the course of the study, the intensity of stimulation was systematically decreased, reaction times (RTs) of older Ss with a .5 second preparatory interval (PI) were much slower than when the intensity of stimulation was systematically increased.

An exploratory study was also carried out. In this study, the pacing of stimulus events was predictable, and Ss were instructed to take advantage of this. RTs were quicker with this procedure than with traditional RT procedures, but not significantly more for old adult Ss than for younger ones. However, the level of significance was such as to suggest that timing may be an important clue to the slowing in later life.     

Task demand and cardiovascular response magnitude: further evidence of the mediating role of success importance

The interactive effects of success importance and task demand upon cardiovascular reactivity were investigated in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, Ss learned that success on an easy or difficult memory task would allow them to avoid a mild or severe noise. As expected, pretask and task elevations in heart rate and systolic blood pressure increased with difficulty only when the noise was to be severe. In Experiment 2, Ss listened to a victim, attending either to how she must feel or to technical features of the presentation. Then they were given the chance to earn a donation by succeeding on an easy or difficult memory task. Pretask cardiovascular data accorded with predictions predicated on the assumption that the need to help would be greater among victim perspective Ss. For them, systolic elevations increased with difficulty, whereas for technical perspective Ss systolic elevations were low regardless of task demand.     

"Shaping" of frequency discrimination performance using only intrinsic reinforcement.

This experiment compared two modes of practice at a difficult frequency discrimination, i.e., one in which the frequency difference was initially correctly discriminated only 65% of the trials in a two-alternative forced-choice task. One group of Ss (N = 13) was assigned to a progressive-practice group, in which the frequency difference to be discriminated was progressivley changed from a large, easy, difference to the difficult, small, difference. The other group of Ss (N = 13) received the same amount of practice as the first, but all at the difficult discrimination. Only the progressive-practice group improved their discrimination performance. Since no feedback was given, the effect of progressive practice is interpreted as "shaping" Ss' attentional response by virtue of the information provided by the successively more difficult discriminations. This "shaping" process is potentially available as a learning mechanism for other fine discriminations.     

Consensus at zero acquaintance: replication, behavioral cues, and stability.

That observers tend to agree in their ratings of a target even if they have never interacted with that target has been called consensus at zero acquaintance. The basic finding that consensus is highest for judgments concerning a target's degree of extraversion (EV) and somewhat weaker for judgments of conscientiousness is replicated. Several potential observable cues that might be used by judges when rating targets are examined. The finding that ratings of physical attractiveness correlate with judgments of EV is replicated. In Study 1, rapid body movements and smiling were also found to correlate with EV judgments. The level of consensus declined when initially unacquainted Ss interacted one-on-one (Study 2), but did not decline--and even increased--when Ss interacted in a group (Study 3). Ss judged as extraverted at zero acquaintance were also seen as extraverted after interacting with others.     

The repeated letter effect in the misspellings

The study consisted of a comparison of the spontaneous misspellings of a dysgraphic (L. H. Oswald) with the ease of perception and recall of similar misspellings by normal Ss. The main results were as follows: (1) Oswald frequently misspelled repeated letters in words (e.g., ELDERY). Similarly, normal Ss found repeated-letter misspellings more difficult to perceive and recall than nonrepeated-letter misspellings. (2) Oswald frequently misspelled repeated letters which were close together as in ANLYZE (for ANALYZE), but he rarely misspelled widely separated repeated letters as in MISSPELLNG. Similarly, normal Ss found repeated-letter misspellings hardest to perceive and recall when the repeated letters were close together, and very easy when they were widely separated. (3) Oswald misspelled the second of two repeated letters (as in ELDERY) more frequently than the first (as in EDERLY). Similarly, normal Ss found repeated-letter misspellings easier to perceive and recall when the first of the repeated letters was misspelled, as in EDERLY, than when the second was misspelled. (4) Oswald sometimes repeated a letter on his own, as in HABITITUATED—but more frequently he dropped a repeated letter as in ELDERY. However, repeated-letter misspellings involving deleted letters were easier for the normal Ss to recall than those involving deletions. Evidence suggesting that repeated phonemes induce analogous errors in normal speech production was discussed, and implications for general models of the serial order of speech behavior were pointed out.     

Individual response patterns in binary choice tasks with nondiscriminable stimuli

The present experiment sought to determine whether individual Ss tend to employ repeatedly the same response patterns in binary choice tasks containing nondiscriminable stimuli and, if so, whether the response sequences when used to construct stimulus sequences improve the performance of other choice tasks. Information and frequency analyses of the response sequences of 48 Ss showed moderate consistency of patterning within a light and within a tone task. Performance of a card task following the light and tone tasks was closely related to the task (light or tone) from which the stimulus sequence was obtained. The frequency analysis showed that repetition patterns were preferred by most Ss but at the expense of alternation responses. The presentation of reinforcement in the card task did not improve performance over that observed in the light and tone tasks.     

Individual response patterns in binary choice tasks with nondiscriminable stimuli

The present experiment sought to determine whether individual Ss tend to employ repeatedly the same response patterns in binary choice tasks containing nondiscriminable stimuli and, if so, whether the response sequences when used to constructstimulus sequences improve the performance of other choice tasks. Information and frequency analyses of the response sequences of 48 Ss showed moderate consistency of patterning within a light and within a tone task. Performance of a card task following the light and tone tasks was closely related to the task (light or tone) from which the stimulus sequence was obtained. The frequency analysis showed that repetition patterns were preferred by most Ss but at the expense of alternation responses. The presentation of reinforcement in the card task did not improve performance over that observed in the light and tone tasks.     

Detection of letter repetition in words and nonwords: the effect of opposite-case distractors.

This study tested whether it is the repetition of the letter's name and not its shape that is detected faster in a word than in a nonword (Krueger, 1989). Ss judged whether the same letter shape or the same letter name was repeated in a 6-letter word or nonword. When the shape was repeated, the word advantage was nearly as large (about 50 ms) when Ss looked for a physical match as when they looked for a name match. When the 2 repeated letters differed in case, however, the word advantage was very large (208 ms) when Ss looked for a name match and were thus rewarded for nonvisual coding, but the advantage vanished ((-35)-ms word deficit) when Ss looked for a physical match and were thus penalized for nonvisual coding. This indicates that letter names are much more accessible in words than in nonwords, and that words are primarily encoded nonvisually.     

Visual search,complex backgrounds,mental counters,and eye movements

For 30 days, three Ss searched for 1, 5, or 10 targets (N), any one of which had to occur once (as in past research). twice, or four times (FREQ). The N=1 and N=5 items were subsets of N=10 items. When FREQ=1. Ss searched longer for 5 targets than for 1 or 10 targets. This nonintuitive result was due to (a) Ss searching for all 10 targets even at N=5, and (b) the reported “pop-out effect” of the 5 target items as well as the other 5 items in the N=10 set. When FREQ > 1, Ss could search for only 2-3 targets at once, because they could not keep mental counters on more items. The presence of a complex background merely added a constant to search time. The main change in eye movements, with 30 days practice, was to reduce greatly the number of eye fixations, thus suggesting an increase in the useful fidld of view and/or a change in search strategy. A speculative model, based upon two comparison processes, was suggested to explain the results.     

Terror management and tolerance: does mortality salience always intensify negative reactions to others who threaten one's worldview?

Terror management research has shown that reminding Ss of their mortality leads to intolerance. The present research assessed whether mortality salience would lead to increased intolerance when the value of tolerance is highly accessible. In Study 1, given that liberals value tolerance more than conservatives, it was hypothesized that with mortality salience, dislike of dissimilar others would increase among conservatives but decrease among liberals. Liberal and conservative Ss were induced to think about their own mortality or a neutral topic and then were asked to evaluate 2 target persons, 1 liberal, the other conservative. Ss' evaluations of the targets supported these hypotheses. In Study 2, the value of tolerance was primed for half the Ss and, under mortality-salient or control conditions, Ss evaluated a target person who criticized the United States. Mortality salience did not lead to negative reactions to the critic when the value of tolerance was highly accessible.     

Consistency between motor activity and perceived direction of rotation

Three experiments were conducted to test the proposition that engagement in motor activity in a given direction favors the perception of stimulus movement consistent with that direction. Ss simultaneously turned a crank and viewed a stimulus capable of apparent reversal of direction.Experiments 1A and 1B demonstrated that the perceived initial direction of rotation was more stable when it was consistent with the motor activity of the viewer than when it was inconsistent. Experiment 2 demonstrated that when Ss were instructed to perceive a particular direction of rotation for a period of time they tended to engage in motor activity consistent withthatdirection.The results were interpreted as supporting an efference theory of perception.     

Individual differences in the detection of embedded figures

The individual differences in processing obtained by Hock (1973) were extended to two experiments in which the embedded figures test was recast into the form of a yes-no reaction time task. Ss emphasizing analytic processes detected the embedded figures more rapidly than Ss emphasizing structural processes, supporting the hypothesis that attention to the parts of the embedded figures was the strategy most appropriate for the task. Based on the interaction between familiarity (normal vs rotated orientation) and embeddedness (intact vs embedded figures), it was concluded in both experiments that familiarity facilitated the detection of the embedded figures for analytic Ss. For structural Ss, familiarity was similarly found to facilitate the detection of the embedded figures, but only when a template-matching strategy was possible (when the target figure and the embedded figure were physically identical).     

Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task

During a 1-sec tachistoscopic exposure, Ss responded with a right or left leverpress to a single target letter from the sets H and K or S and C. The target always appeared directly above the fixation cross. Experimentally varied were the types of noise letters (response compatible or incompatible) flanking the target and the spacing between the letters in the display. In all noise conditions, reaction time (RT) decreased as between-letter spacing increased. However, noise letters of the opposite response set were found to impair RT significantly more than same response set noise, while mixed noise letters belonging to neither set but having set-related features produced intermediate impairment. Differences between two target-alone control conditions, one presented intermixed with noise-condition trials and one presented separately in blocks, gave evidence of a preparatory set on the part of Ss to inhibit responses to the noise letters. It was concluded that S cannot prevent processing of noise letters occurring within about 1 deg of the target due to the nature of processing channel capacity and must inhibit his response until he is able to discriminate exactly which letter is in the target position. This discrimination is more difficult and time consuming at closer spacings, and inhibition is more difficult when noise letters indicate the opposite response from the targe     

Eye-hand coordination: oculomotor control in rapid aimed limb movements

Three experiments are reported in which Ss produced rapid wrist rotations to a target while the position of their eyes was being monitored. In Experiment 1, Ss spontaneously executed a saccadic eye movement to the target around the same time as the wrist began to move. Experiment 2 revealed that wrist-rotation accuracy suffered if Ss were not allowed to move their eyes to the target, even when visual feedback about the moving wrist was unavailable. In Experiment 3, wrist rotations were equally accurate when Ss produced either a saccadic or a smooth-pursuit eye movement to the target. However, differences were observed in the initial-impulse and error-correction phases of the wrist rotations, depending on the type of eye movement involved. The results suggest that aimed limb movements use information from the oculomotor system about both the static position of the eyes and the dynamic characteristics of eye movements. Furthermore, the information that governs the initial impulse is different from that which guides final error corrections.