Context effects in episodic studies of verbal and facial memory: A review

Memory research has in the last fifteen years been marked by a considerable interest in context effects. This review begins by examining experimental manipulations of verbal and environmental context in verbal memory. This is followed by a more extensive review of episodic studies of face recognition that have examined the effects of varying the background in which a face is portrayed, the room of testing, and the presence of guided instructions. The relevance of these findings to eyewitness memory is also considered. Discrepancies in the literature are pinpointed with theoretical discussion centering around encoding specificity theory (Tulving & Thomson, 1973) and Baddeley and Woodhead’s (1982) distinction between “independent” (extrinsic) and “interactive” (intrinsic) context effects. The review ends with an evaluation of some recent models of memory and face recognition in an attempt to provide a framework within which to interpret the context effects in the literature.     

Selection of verbal probabilities: A solution for some problems of verbal probability expression

A method for verbal expression of degree of uncertainty is described. It requires the subject to select a phrase from a list that spans the full range of probabilities. In a second, optional, step, the subject indicates the numerical meaning of each phrase. The method avoids two problems of verbal probabilities—the indefinitely large lexicon and the individual differences in the interpretation of words. To test whether context and ordinal position might bias subjects' selection or interpretation of the verbal expressions in the list, the list order was varied. When the verbal expressions were arranged in random order, ordinal position had a significant effect on the selection of expressions. However, these effects did not occur when the phrases were listed in ascending or descending order. Considerations of accuracy and interpersonal agreement also support the use of ordered phrase lists.     

Memory for discourse: Loci mnemonics and the oral presentation effect

The help given by loci mnemonics in memorizing isolated items is widely known, whereas there is no doubt as to whether mnemonics are useful for learning meaningful passages. In the present research it is argued that past failures to find a loci effect with text may have been due to the limited range of conditions explored during analysis of the problem. In the present research the modality of presentation of the text was hypothesized to be particularly relevant. In two experiments groups of trained and non-trained students were asked to memorize two different passages, either using loci mnemonics or not. Loci mnemonics facilitated memory of passages, the increase being greater for oral presentation of text than after private study of a written text.     

The importance of the keyword-generation method in keyword mnemonics

Keyword mnemonics is under certain conditions an effective approach for learning foreign-language vocabulary. It appears to be effective for words with high image vividness but not for words with low image vividness. In this study, two experiments were performed to assess the efficacy of a new keyword-generation procedure (peer generation). In Experiment 1, a sample of 363 high-school students was randomly into four groups. The subjects were required to learn L1 equivalents of a list of 16 Latin words (8 with high image vividness, 8 with low image vividness), using a) the rote method, or the keyword method with b) keywords and images generated and supplied by the experimenter, c) keywords and images generated by themselves, or d) keywords and images previously generated by peers (i.e., subjects with similar sociodemographic characteristics). Recall was tested immediately and one week later. For high-vivideness words, recall was significantly better in the keyword groups than the rote method group. For low-vividness words, learning method had no significant effect. Experiment 2 was basically identical, except that the word lists comprised 32 words (16 high-vividness, 16 low-vividness). In this experiment, the peer-generated-keyword group showed significantly better recall of high-vividness words than the rote method groups and the subject generated keyword group; again, however, learning method had no significant effect on recall of low-vividness words.     

Rational-emotive therapy: A discussion of its applicability for deaf clients

This review was conducted to explore the feasibility of Rational-Emotive therapy as an approach to addressing the problems of providing mental health services to persons who have a severe hearing impairment. Informational resources dealing with the topics of Rational-Emotive Therapy and counseling with persons who are hearing impaired were reviewed. References indicated that RET is reasonably well suited to the task of counseling with clients who are hearing impaired, provided that appropriate modifications are incorporated. Specific modifications of RET are recommended and discussed.     

The search for verbal fingerprints

Many scholars have attempted to detect patterns in speech or in writingwhich might identify the author as surely as a fingerprint does. The articleconsiders a problem in taking statements which is becoming common at thepresent time. It reviews some of the features which scholars have used inattempting to discriminate between the works of different authors and findsthat they fail to produce a verbal fingerprint. Finally, scale-relatedpatterns are introduced which link different works in a way which has onlyrecently been detected. These patterns may be significant in some instancesof authorship determination and take the matter one step further in thesearch for the elusive verbal fingerprint.     

A model for serial verbal learning

A model for analyzing the learning process with a special emphasis on serial-position effect is proposed. This model consists of two analyses, one being an analysis of the learning process of each item in a list by a stochastic method, and the other being an analysis of serial-position effect in terms of pro- and retroactive inhibitions, and of forgetting. The model is experimentally verified, and moreover, it is found that the model permits prediction of the results of many experiments with lists of various lengths and varying difficulty.The author wishes to acknowledge help received during discussion with Prof. T. Indow.     

Learning mnemonics: roles of aging and subtle cognitive impairment

Previously validated methods of memory training were used in conjunction with the Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to explore the relationship between complexity of learned mnemonic, aging, and subtle cognitive impairment. Subjects were 218 community-dwelling elderly. Treatment included imagery mnemonics for remembering names and faces and lists. There was a significant interaction among age, type of learning task (face-name vs. list), and improvement when controlling for MMSE score. There was also a significant interaction among MMSE score, type of learning task, and improvement when controlling for age. Scores on the more complex list-learning mnemonic were more affected by age and MMSE scores than were scores on the face-name mnemonic. Implications of the findings for cognitive training of the old old and the impaired are discussed.     

The K-BIT: A screen for IQ in six diverse populations

Performance data were collected on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) from a total of 196 individuals from six diverse populations. College students did best, followed closely by closed head-injured adults and their controls; the order of performance then was learning-disabled children, psychiatric patients, and finally, neurosurgical patients in the acute stages of recovery.     

Conflict of experience: A categorization model for studying verbal interaction

In order to describe communication between people, some new concepts are introduced. These are derived from a model using 'conflict of experience' as its main theoretical reference. Such conflict presumably occurs when different interpretations of "the same" reality confronts each other. How such a conflict is handled is seen as depending upon factors in the situation, and on motive states of the person. A dialogue from Ibsen's play "John Gabriel Borkman" is analyzed in terms of the model in order to demonstrate its possible fruitfulness for describing and understanding verbal interaction. Psychotherapeutic concepts are discussed in relation to the theoretical points of veiw presented.     

The Approaches to Teaching Inventory: A critique of its development and applicability

Background. The Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) is structured as two main scales, reflecting a teacher‐centred information‐transmission approach versus a student‐centred conceptual‐change approach, each subdivided into intention and strategy subscales. Its use in higher education investigations is increasing and, by default, it is assuming an operational definition of variation in ‘approaches to teaching’. However, the ATI's conceptual foundations and procedures of development have not been systematically scrutinized. Aims. The present paper presents a comprehensive historical review and critique of the ATI's development. Method. The procedures applied in the ATI's initial development are critically evaluated. Close attention is paid to the source of its foundation item pool, the criteria used in selecting from those foundation items, the adequacy of subject samples used in item trialling and the uses made of resultant trial response data in determining the final form of the inventory. The historical record is examined closely to determine the conceptual and psychometric credibility of the instrument. Conclusions. There are serious and irreversible concerns with the rigour and methodology adopted in the psychometric development of the ATI. The ATI manifestly does not reflect a functionally useful range of ‘approaches to teaching’, and its application to activities connected with the professionalization (and evaluation) of university teaching is rejected.     

The tell-tale tasks: a review of saccadic research in psychiatric patient populations

This review focuses on saccade research with adult psychiatric patients. It begins with an introduction of the various types of saccades and the tasks used to evoke them. The functional significance of the different types of eye movements is briefly discussed. Research findings regarding the saccadic performance of different adult psychiatric patient populations are discussed in detail, with particular emphasis on findings regarding error rates, response latencies, and any specific task parameters that might affect those variables. Findings regarding the symptom, neurocognitive, and neural correlates of saccadic performance and the functional significance of patients’ saccadic deficits are also discussed. We also discuss the saccadic deficits displayed by various patient groups in terms of circuitry (e.g. cortical/basal ganglia circuits) that may be implicated in the underlying pathophysiology of several of these disorders. Future directions for research in this growing area are offered.     

Latency of different verbal responses to the same stimulus

A response of reading (letter O) or of naming (circle) can be given to the same sign O. The verbal reaction time is higher when naming than when reading (difference 100 millisec.). This fact verifies that naming is a longer process than reading, the difficulty of perceiving the stimulus being equal.

The response “zero” which may be given to the same sign is nearer to the reading-response time than the naming-response. These facts can be explained if we say that uncertainty for coding concrete signs is greater than for alphabetical or numerical signs.     

The applicability of a helicopter patrol procedure to diverse areas: A cost-benefit evaluation

The residential burglary deterrent effects of a helicopter patrol procedure were investigated in four separate areas with a multiple baseline technology. The helicopter was flown during an 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. period in two high density population areas of approximately 9.82 and 14.71 square miles and two low density population areas of 117.49 and 89.97 square miles. The helicopter patrol reduced residential burglaries without crime displacement in the two high density areas but had no deterrent effects in the low density areas. The costs of the helicopter patrol were justified by the benefits that resulted from the reduced home burglaries in the two high density areas. Because the helicopter patrol program is funded by general tax revenues, there is a disparity between those people paying for the procedure (all residents of Nashville) and those citizens that receive the burglary deterrent benefits (only residents of high-density areas). This distribution of benefit limitation suggests two courses of action: (1) The helicopter should be flown only in high population density areas even though the low population density areas are also victimized by high burglary rates. (2) A more comprehensive burglary reduction program must be developed so that effective deterrence can be realized in low density areas. These latter techniques would supplement helicopter patrol strategies and thus form a comprehensive burglary deterrent package that has an equitable benefit distribution.     

The effects of narrative context on French verbal inflections: A developmental perspective

This experiment examines how narrative context affects French subjects' selection of past imperfective (imparfait) vs. perfective inflections with different predicate types. Adults and 10-year-old children were asked to inflect verbs presented in their written infinitive form in two conditions: (a) in isolated sentences; (b) embedded in the beginning, middle, or end of narratives. Regardless of conditions, the adults rarely used theimparfait with punctual resultative predicates. In both conditions, the frequency ofimparfait was high with durative predicates, particularly with aresultative ones, but it varied with position in the narratives, being highest at the beginning and lowest at the end. Although the children also used the imparfait frequently with durative predicates, they overgeneralized it to punctual resultative ones, regardless of conditions and of positions. These results show that adult uses of the imperfective/perfective distinction are determined by both predicate properties and grounding in narrative context. The children are less sensitive to some predicate properties than the adults and they do not differentiate imperfective/perfective aspect consistently as a function of discourse context.     

Qualitative analysis of verbal fluency output: review and comparison of several scoring methods

We compared three approaches to scoring qualitative aspects of verbal fluency performance in 88 healthy young adults. Phonemic and semantic fluency output was scored for word clustering and switching between clusters. Convergent validity analyses using other tests presumed to tap into strategy use (California Verbal Learning Test, Ruff Figural Fluency Test) support scoring of phonemic and semantic clusters on both fluency tasks. Task-discrepant clustering (e.g., semantic clustering on phonemic fluency) may index intentional strategy use on both fluency tasks, whereas task consistent clustering (e.g., phonemic clustering on phonemic fluency) appears strategic only on semantic fluency. Switching can be decomposed into subtypes that appear to reflect different cognitive processes on phonemic versus semantic fluency. Principal components analyses suggest that earlier scoring methods do not fully capture the "process" aspects of verbal fluency performance.