Masking of motion by broadband and filtered directional noise

Observers detected unidirectional motion of isotropic dotpatterns following exposure to (1) broadband noise containing all directions of motion, or (2) noise from which certain sets of direction had been filtered. The amount of maskingvaried withtheset of directions filtered from the noise, yielding broad directional tuning functions. The breadth of an observers’s tuning function corresponded to the precision with which the observer could recognize small differences in direction of motion.     

Mere exposure effect: A consequence of direct and indirect fluency-preference links

In three experiments, picture quality between test items was manipulated to examine whether subjects' expectations about the fluency normally associated with these different stimuli might influence the effects of fluency on preference or familiarity-based recognition responses. The results showed that fluency due to pre-exposure influenced responses less when objects were presented with high picture quality, suggesting that attributions of fluency to preference and familiarity are adjusted according to expectations about the different test pictures. However, this expectations influence depended on subjects' awareness of these different quality levels. Indeed, imperceptible differences seemed not to induce expectations about the test item fluency. In this context, fluency due to both picture quality and pre-exposure influenced direct responses. Conversely, obvious, and noticed, differences in test picture quality did no affect responses, suggesting that expectations moderated attributions of fluency only when fluency normally associated with these different stimuli was perceptible but difficult to assess.     

语言和文化影响颜色认知：直接语言效应抑或间接语言效应?

语言和文化对颜色认知的影响存在着直接语言效应和间接语言效应的争论。直接语言效应是指在识记颜色时人先将颜色转换成颜色名称, 再认时通过匹配保留在记忆中的颜色词与目标颜色名称来完成任务。颜色类别知觉是语言策略的结果。间接语言效应是指语言和文化塑造颜色知觉表征, 形成了一个曲形颜色知觉空间, 将人们的注意引向语言和文化定义的颜色类别分界。即使没有语言策略的参与, 类别效应也会出现。颜色文化是民族文化的重要组成部分。绿色和红色在维吾尔族和汉族的语言和文化中分别具有重要的意义。采用颜色相似性判断、颜色分类和颜色再认任务, 考察维吾尔族和汉族的大学生对红、绿的认知, 探查语言和文化对颜色认知的影响及其性质。结果表明, 与汉族相比, 维吾尔族对绿色的辨认、分类和再认存在反应优势, 对红色认知存在反应劣势。与颜色辨认反应比, 两个民族的颜色再认反应时显著长。整个研究表明, 语言和文化对颜色认知的影响存在着间接语言效应, 语言与文化塑造个体的颜色知觉空间。     

Affective predictors of preschoolers' aggression and peer acceptance: direct and indirect effects

Observational assessments were made of 51 preschoolers' (mean age = 53.25 months) peer aggression and emotional displays outside of (baseline) and during aggressive interactions, and their emotion knowledge and peer acceptance were also assessed. Results indicated that the connections between children's affective dispositions and their aggression and peer acceptance varied as a function of both the emotion context (baseline vs. aggression related) and the particular emotion involved (happiness vs. anger). Emotion knowledge and affective dispositions overlapped little with each other, and both made independent contributions to peer acceptance and aggression. Mediation analyses revealed, however, that the significant connections between children's emotional dispositions and knowledge and their peer acceptance were mostly mediated by aggression.     

Response acquisition under direct and indirect contingencies of reinforcement

We compared the effects of direct and indirect reinforcement contingencies on the performance of 6 individuals with profound developmental disabilities. Under both contingencies, completion of identical tasks (opening one of several types of containers) produced access to identical reinforcers. Under the direct contingency, the reinforcer was placed inside the container to be opened; under the indirect contingency, the therapist held the reinforcer and delivered it to the participant upon task completion. One participant immediately performed the task at 100% accuracy under both contingencies. Three participants showed either more immediate or larger improvements in performance under the direct contingency. The remaining 2 participants showed improved performance only under the direct reinforcement contingency. Data taken on the occurrence of "irrelevant" behaviors under the indirect contingency (e.g., reaching for the reinforcer instead of performing the task) provided some evidence that these behaviors may have interfered with task performance and that their occurrence was a function of differential stimulus control.     

The relative strengths of indirect and direct word learning

Indirect word learning lacks many of the overt social-pragmatic cues to reference available in direct word learning, yet the two result in equally robust mappings when comprehension is assessed immediately after learning. The 3 studies reported here investigated how 3-year-olds (N=96) respond to more challenging tests of the relative strengths of indirect and direct word learning. In Study 1, children's comprehension of indirectly and directly learned proper and common names was tested after a 2-day delay. Both types of learning resulted in proper name mappings that picked out an individual and in common name mappings that could be extended to another category member. In Studies 2 and 3, children's comprehension was tested after they had been provided with additional, and sometimes inconsistent, information about the scope of previously learned words. There was a hint of a difference between indirect and direct word learning. but results overall suggested that the two were equivalent.     

Aging and memory for new associations: direct versus indirect measures.

Three experiments examined adult age differences in memory for new associations between unrelated words. On the indirect (word-stem completion) test, age differences appeared under the less-than-optimal study conditions of Experiments 1 and 3 but not under the self-paced study conditions of Experiment 2. In contrast, all experiments revealed significant age-related deficits on the direct tests, even those (word-stem cued recall) in which the cue was identical to those provided on the indirect test. The findings show that although age-related deficits in memory for new associations are particularly pronounced on tests requiring conscious recollection, age differences are not limited to such tests. Age deficits on both direct and indirect tests are related to the precision of elaborations produced during study. Similarities and differences between normal aging and amnesia are discussed, as are functional dissociations between direct and indirect measures.     

Interactional processes in families with disruptive boys: Patterns of direct and indirect influence

Patterns of direct and indirect influence were investigated in interactions among 44 families with disruptive boys. Positive and negative behaviors were assessed for spouses and parent-child dyads, in different laboratory situations. For direct or reciprocal influence, positive behaviors in the father-child dyads were positively correlated; mothers' positive behaviors were positively correlated with boys' negative behaviors, suggesting an unexpected pattern of inverse reciprocity. For indirect influences, the following associations were found: Fathers' negative behaviors toward their children predicted the children's negative behaviors toward their mothers, and mothers' negative behaviors toward their children predicted the children's negative behaviors toward their fathers, suggesting a form of setting event or displaced behavior pattern. The children's negative behaviors toward their mothers correlated with the fathers' behaviors toward the mothers, suggesting a modeling pattern. These indirect paths underline the relevance of taking into account family interlocked relationships when studying child disruptiveness.This study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Québec Social Research Council (CQRS), and the Québec FCAR programs for research centers and research teams. We are also indebted to Jacinthe Sirois and Danielle Boisvcrt for documentation assistance, to Lyse Desmarais-Gervais for her help in data processing, and to Patricia L. Dobkin for revision.     

The effects of emotional stimuli on target detection: indirect and direct resource costs

The present study was designed to explore the performance costs of negative emotional stimuli in a vigilance task. Forty participants (20 women) performed a vigilance task in two conditions: one with task-irrelevant negative-arousing pictures and one with task-irrelevant neutral pictures. In addition to performance, we measured subjective state (energetic arousal, tense arousal, task-related and task-unrelated thoughts) and frontal cerebral activity with near infrared spectroscopy. Overall performance in the negative picture condition was lower than in the neutral picture condition and the negative picture condition had elevated levels of energetic arousal, tense arousal and task-related thoughts. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the impact of the negative pictures on tense arousal and task-related thoughts and the impact of the negative pictures on performance (in comparison to the neutral picture stimuli task). These results provide support for indirect cost models of negative emotional stimuli on target detection performance.     

Maximum vs. minimum values: Preferences of speakers and listeners for upper and lower limit estimates

Estimates about uncertain quantities can be expressed in terms of lower limits (more than X, minimum X), or upper limits (less than Y, maximum Y). It has been shown that lower limit statements generally occur much more often than upper limit statements (Halberg & Teigen, 2009). However, in a conversational context, preferences for upper and lower limit statements will be moderated by the concerns of the interlocutors. We report three studies asking speakers and listeners about their preferences for lower and upper limit statements, in the domains of distances, durations, and prices. It appears that travellers prefer information about maximum distances and maximum durations, and buyers (but not sellers) prefer to be told about maximum prices and maximum delivery times. Mistaken maxima are at the same time regarded as more “wrong” than mistaken minima. However, this preference for “worst case” information is not necessarily shared by providers of information (advisors), who are also concerned about being blamed if wrong.     

Parent and child expressed affect and children's social competence: modeling direct and indirect pathways

This study examined links between parents' and children's expressed affect during parent-child play and children's social functioning with peers. A total of 116 kindergarten-age children and their parents (114 mothers, 102 fathers) were observed during physical play interactions and were coded on global measures of expressed positive and negative affect. Kindergarten and 1st-grade teachers and peers provided measures of social competence. Latent variable path analysis with partial least squares was used to examine models that included "direct" and "indirect" pathways. Relations between parental positive affect and children's social competence were mediated by children's expressed positive affect. Parental negative affect was associated with negative social outcomes in children; however, these relations were not mediated by children's negative expressions. The strongest support for the hypothesized models was found in same-sex dyads.     

A daily diary investigation of self-reported alcohol-related direct and indirect aggression

Research supports the relationship between alcohol use and direct aggression, however, scant research has examined the association between alcohol use and indirectly aggressive behavior. Further, extant research has relied on retrospective reporting of behaviors, which may be subject to recall bias. The daily diary methodology enables the assessment of both the between- and within-subject variation, as well as reduces the likelihood of biased reporting. Consequently, the current study utilized a daily diary design to examine (a) associations between daily alcohol use and alcohol-related aggressive behaviors (i.e., direct and indirect); and (b) the co-occurrence of alcohol-related direct and indirect aggression. Participants were 105 (80% female) college student drinkers. Students completed baseline questionnaires and up to 14 consecutive, daily surveys regarding their previous day alcohol use, alcohol-related direct aggression, and alcohol-related indirect aggression. Findings revealed that alcohol use was associated with same day alcohol-related direct and indirect aggression, after controlling for baseline alcohol use. Self-reported alcohol-related direct aggression was more likely to occur on days in which self-reported alcohol-related indirect aggression occurred, after controlling for dispositional aggression, trait self-control, and baseline alcohol use. Results of the study suggest that, similar to alcohol-related direct aggression, alcohol use is associated with an increased likelihood of alcohol-related indirect aggression. Further, the co-occurrence of alcohol-related indirect and direct aggression supports that individuals may be engaging in multiple types of aggressive behaviors. Findings extend previous cross-sectional and qualitative research suggesting that indirect aggression may co-occur, perhaps increasing in severity.     

Implications of direct and indirect range restriction for meta-analysis methods and findings

Range restriction in most data sets is indirect, but the meta-analysis methods used to date have applied the correction for direct range restriction to data in which range restriction is indirect. The authors show that this results in substantial undercorrections for the effects of range restriction, and they present meta-analysis methods for making accurate corrections when range restriction is indirect. Applying these methods to a well-known large-sample empirical database, the authors estimate that previous meta-analyses have underestimated the correlation between general mental ability and job performance by about 25%, indicating that this is potentially an important methodological issue in meta-analysis in general.