Not all information in visual working memory is forgotten equally

To improve maintenance of task-relevant information in visual working memory (VWM), previously encoded, but no longer relevant, information can be suppressed or forgotten. However, it is unclear whether a cue directing attention to a subset of stimuli leads to complete forgetting for non-cued stimuli. The current study utilized a novel method of testing to-be forgotten information to determine if the effectiveness of forgetting differs depending on the type of encoded stimuli. Participants performed a directed forgetting change detection task, and importantly, the changed stimulus could be a novel stimulus or a to-be-forgotten stimulus. Stimulus type (colors, objects, or shapes) was manipulated across two experiments. Results suggest that a cue benefits memory for to-be-remembered information, but performance is not equivalent to never encoding to-be-forgotten information. Furthermore, the type of encoded information impacts the extent of forgetting.     

The accessibility of pronominal antecedents as a function of episode shifts in narrative text

One of the characteristics of connected discourse is that entities introduced are often referred to again at a later point. Such anaphoric reference clearly necessitates a memory representation of the prior text, so that the new reference can be established as coreferential with the old. In this paper, a distinction is made between people introduced in a narrative who depend upon a particular setting in order to be interpreted (scenario-dependent entities), and those who do not (main characters). It is argued that the availability of representations of these two types of character in working memory will depend upon whether the text indicates a change in setting to have occurred. Two experiments are described which show that dependent entities become less available if a change has occurred, while main characters are not so affected. The first study uses incidence of mention in a passage continuation procedure as an index of availability, while the second uses reading time and question-answering latencies. The experiments rule out any simple view that availability depends only upon how far back in the text a character was mentioned, and illustrate how passage of time in a narrative serves as a cue for recognizing the end of an episode.     

Not all visual memories are created equal

Two experiments examined how well the long-term visual memories of objects that are encountered multiple times during visual search are updated. Participants searched for a target two or four times (e.g., white cat) among distractors that shared the target's colour, category, or were unrelated while their eye movements were recorded. Following the search, a surprise visual memory test was given. With additional object presentations, only target memory reliably improved; distractor memory was unaffected by the number of object presentations. Regression analyses using the eye movement variables as predictors indicated that number of object presentations predicted target memory with no additional impact of other viewing measures. In contrast, distractor memory was best predicted by the viewing pattern on the distractor objects. Finally, Experiment 2 showed that target memory was influenced by number of target object presentations, not number of searches for the target. Each of these experiments demonstrates visual memory differences between target and distractor objects and may provide insight into representational differences in visual memory.     

Not all executive functions are related to intelligence

Accumulating evidence suggests that executive functions (EFs) are related to intelligence, despite neuropsychological results initially considered evidence of no such relation. However, findings that EFs are not unitary raise the issue of how intelligence relates to different EFs. This study examined the relations of fluid and crystallized intelligence and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IQ to three separable EFs--inhibiting prepotent responses (inhibiting), shifting mental sets (shifting), and updating working memory (updating)--in young adults. Updating was highly correlated with the intelligence measures, but inhibiting and shifting were not. Furthermore, in structural equation models controlling for the inter-EF correlations, updating remained strongly related to intelligence, but the relations of inhibiting and shifting to intelligence were small and not significant. The results indicate that intelligence measures differentially relate to these three EFs, suggesting that current intelligence measures do not equally assess a wide range of executive control abilities likely required for many "intelligent" behaviors.     

Not all semantics: Similarities and differences in reminiscing function and content between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

This study explored why and how Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians remember the past. Indigenous Australians traditionally share a strong oral tradition in which customs, personal and cultural histories, and other narratives are passed across groups and between generations by word of mouth. Drawing on this tradition, in which inherent value is placed on sharing knowledge and maintaining connectedness with others, we hypothesised that Indigenous Australians would be more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to report reminiscing to fulfil social functions (but not self or directive functions). Furthermore, we hypothesised that Indigenous Australians would recall personal past experiences more elaborately than would non-Indigenous Australians. In Study 1, 33 Indigenous Australians and 76 non-Indigenous Australians completed Webster's Reminiscence Functions Scale. As predicted, Indigenous participants reported higher scores on subscales related to social functions than did non-Indigenous Australians: particularly “Teach/Inform” and “Intimacy Maintenance”. They also scored higher on the “Identity” subscale. In Study 2, 15 Indigenous and 14 non-Indigenous Australians shared three memories from the distant and recent past. While Indigenous and non-Indigenous narratives did not differ in either emotion or elaboration, Indigenous Australians provided more memory context and detail by including a greater proportion of semantic memory content. Taken together, these findings suggest differences in both why and how Australians remember.     

Socioeconomic status is not judged equally: Target race shifts standards in interpersonal judgments of SES

Across three studies, respondents made SES judgments of targets varying in Race (White or Black) and SES (Low or High), including global subjective SES, financial success, and educational attainment. As Whites and Blacks are stereotypically associated with upper and lower SES, respectively, the Shifting Standards Model (SSM) of stereotype judgments predicted the pattern of interpersonal objective and subjective judgments. In Study 1, in a between-subjects design, respondents rated Black targets significantly higher on subjective measures than White targets, even as the targets were rated as comparable on objective measures. Study 2 replicated these effects with a broader range of stimulus materials. In Study 3, the shifting standards effect was replicated using a within-subjects design, further supporting the effect. The findings support the application of the SSM to race-based shifts in interpersonal judgments of SES and are discussed regarding their implications for intergroup relations and workplace evaluations.     

The figurative and literal senses of idioms,or all idioms are not used equally

Two groups of college students (40 and 56) gave what they felt to be the literal and figurative interpretation of 30 different idiomatic expressions and rated their interpretations for frequency of use and for familiarity. Ratings were done on 7-point scales where 1=never and 7=very often. Subjects gave higher ratings to figurative interpretations than to literal interpretations and higher ratings of frequency than familiarity. Nevertheless, there was a high correlation between ratings of frequency and familiarity. It was also found that figurative ratings were independent of literal ratings. In the main, figurative ratings were found to be high (5–7) irrespective of their literal ratings. A small subgroup of idioms, however, had relatively low ratings on both scales. The differences noted between idioms may help to account for certain discrepancies that have appeared in recent experimental studies on idiom processing.     

Bullying is detrimental to health, but all bullying behaviours are not necessarily equally damaging

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of 'negative behaviours' and 'bullying' in the workplace on the health and well-being of employees, to what extent the effects remain beyond the period of the experience as well as the extent to which they affect third-parties or witnesses. The paper also raises the question whether some behaviours associated with bullying may be more damaging than others. Potential sex differences and differences between occupational contexts are considered. To achieve these aims, a national cross-sectional study (N=5,388) was carried out. In absolute terms those who labelled their experience as bullying had substantially worse health than those who were not bullied. However, counter to what was expected, stronger associations were found between negative behaviour and adverse health effects than for self-reported (self-labelled) bullying and health. Previous targets as well as witnesses also reported worse health than those who were neither bullied nor had witnessed bullying. The findings also imply that some negative behaviours were more difficult to deal with than others. In all cases differences between the sexes and between occupational contexts emerged.     

The analyst's narrative function: Inventing a possibility

This article describes a psychic function common to analysts that was gradually revealed through clinical work with children. It is a psychic quality derived from function α, which involves analysts’ capacity for reverie – their narrative function. The author presents two clinical situations where this function developed in the analytic field in relation to patients’ difficulty in symbolizing. In the first case there was an early traumatic experience unavailable for representation. The analyst lent the patient her ability to represent and produced a narrative that made it possible to create a world of phantasies and transform nightmares into ‘dreamable’ dreams. In other words, she removed the quality of unbearable, irrepresentable reality that characterized those raw experiences encrypted in the psyche. In the second case the analyst's narrative function sought to connect with the isolation, the shell that housed a child suffering from an autistic disorder whose ability to represent had not been established. The analyst provided meaning for the patient's repetitive, stereotyped play, thus weaving the child's subjectivity and gradually introducing a notion of alterity. The author seeks to show how this function, in the thematic construction of the session, facilitated both the working‐through of a traumatic situation (with the ability to share representations) and the constitution of the psychic fabric.     

Perceptual grouping and attention: Not all groupings are equal

We examined grouping under inattention using Driver, Davis, Russell, Turatto, & Freeman’s (2001) method. On each trial, two successive displays were briefly presented, each comprising a central target square surrounded by elements. The task was to judge whether the two targets were the same or different. The organization of the background elements stayed the same or changed, independently of the targets. In different conditions, background elements grouped into columns/rows by color similarity, a shape (a triangle/arrow, a square/cross, or a vertical/horizontal line) by color similarity, and a shape with no other elements in the background. We measured the influence of the background on the target same-different judgments. The results imply that background elements grouped into columns/rows by color similarity and into a shape when no segregation from other elements was involved and the shape was relatively “good.” In contrast, no background grouping was observed when resolving figure-ground relations for segregated units was required, as in grouping into a shape by color similarity. These results suggest that grouping is a multiplicity of processes that vary in their attentional demands. Regardless of attentional demands, the products of grouping are not available to awareness without attention.     

Familiarity changes as a function of perceptual shifts

This experiment compares the yes-no and forced recognition tests as methods of measuring familiarity. Participants faced a phase of 3 study-test recognition trials in which they studied words using all the letters of the alphabet (overlapping condition, O), and an additional phase in which targets and lures did not share any letters (non-overlapping condition, NO). Finally, subjects performed a forced-choice task in which they had to choose one of two new words, each from one of the subsets (Parkin et al., 2001). Results in the NO condition were better than in the O condition in the yes-no recognition test, while the forced-choice rate was significantly higher than .50, showing their sensitivity to familiarity. When the letter set of the words for study in the third list of the NO condition was switched, the difference between NO and O conditions disappeared in yes-no test, while the force-choice rate was not higher than .50. We conclude that both the yes-no test and the forced-choice test are valid and equivalent measures of familiarity under the right conditions.     

Not all synaesthetes are created equal: Projector versus associator synaesthetes

In synaesthesia, ordinary stimuli elicit extraordinary experiences. When grapheme-color synaesthetes view black text, each grapheme elicits a photism-a highly specific experience of color. Importantly, some synaesthetes (projectors) report experiencing their photisms in external space, whereas other synaesthetes (associators) report experiencing their photisms "in the mind's eye." We showed that projectors and associators can be differentiated not only by their subjective reports, but also by their performance on Stroop tasks. Digits were presented in colors that were either congruent or incongruent with the synaesthetes' photisms. The synaesthetes named either the video colors of the digits or the colors of the photisms elicited by the digits. The results revealed systematic differences in the patterns of Stroop interference between projectors and associators. Converging evidence from first-person reports and third-person objective measures of Stroop interference establish the projector/ associator distinction as an important individual difference in grapheme-color synaesthesia.     

Exploring the subcategories of stereotypes: Not all mothers are the same

Stereotypes of mothers employed outside the home, unemployed at home with their children, and whose work role was unspecified were compared and contrasted. Two hundred and twenty-six randomly assigned university students rated how typical personality traits were of one of the three mothers. While the employed mother was perceived as retaining feminine qualities, she was described as less feminine, more masculine, and generally less desirable than the other mothers. Ratings for the mother with role unspecified paralleled those for the at-home mother, suggesting that she was assumed to be a mother at home rather than a generic or general entity. Implications for projects in which stereotypes of generic individuals have been described or evaluated are discussed.     

Not all ideals are equal: Intrinsic and extrinsic ideals in relationships

The ideal standards model suggests that greater consistency between ideal standards and actual perceptions of one's relationship predicts positive relationship evaluations; however, no research has evaluated whether this differs across types of ideals. A self‐determination theory perspective was derived to test whether satisfaction of intrinsic ideals buffers the importance of extrinsic ideals. Participants (N = 195) in committed relationships directly and indirectly reported the extent to which their partner met their ideal on two dimensions: intrinsic (e.g., warm, intimate) and extrinsic (e.g., attractive, successful). Relationship need fulfillment and relationship quality were also assessed. Hypotheses were largely supported, such that satisfaction of intrinsic ideals more strongly predicted relationship functioning, and satisfaction of intrinsic ideals buffered the relevance of extrinsic ideals for outcomes.     

Not all nonwords are alike: Implications for reading development and theory

Three experiments were designed to examine children's and adults' ability to pronounce consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) nonsense words. Some of the nonwords, like tain and goach, shared their VC unit with a number of real words. Other nonwords, like goan and taich, shared their VC unit with few or no real words. Pooling across items, the very same grapheme-phoneme correspondences occurred in the two types of nonwords. First graders, good and poor third grade readers, and adults all performed better on the nonwords with the more common VC units than on the nonwords with the less common VC units. Although readers appeared to use VC units in the pronunciation of nonwords, we did not find evidence for use of initial CV units. Implications of the results for reading development, dyslexia, and models of nonword pronunciation are discussed.