Event Timing and Age Deficits in Higher-Order Sequence Learning

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have reported age deficits in learning sequences that contain subtle sequential regularities [e.g., Curran (1997) Curran, T. 1997. Effects of aging on implicit sequence learning: Accounting for sequence structure and explicit knowledge. Psychological Research, 60(1–2): 24–41.  [Google Scholar] Psychological Research, 60(1–2), 24; D. V. Howard et al. (2004) Howard, D. V., Howard, J. H. Jr, Japikse, K., DiYanni, C., Thompson, A. and Somberg, R. 2004. Implicit sequence learning: Effects of level of structure, adult age, and extended practice. Psychology and Aging, 19(1): 79–92. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] Psychology and Aging, 19(1), 79; Howard, J. H. Jr, & Howard, D. V. (1997) Howard, J. H. Jr and Howard, D. V. 1997. Age differences in implicit learning of higher order dependencies in serial patterns. Psychololgy and Aging, 12(4): 634–656. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Psychololgy and Aging, 12(4), 634]. This finding is of potential theoretical interest, but the contribution of sequence event timing to this deficit has not been investigated. This study used an alternating serial reaction time task to examine implicit sequence learning in young adults when event timing mimicked that experienced by older adults in previous research. We varied the response-to-stimulus interval directly in Experiment 1 and indirectly by degrading the stimuli to influence response time in Experiment 2. Results indicate that these “aged” young adults learned the higher-order sequence structure implicitly, but they learned less than young controls and more than old adults on some measures of implicit learning in both experiments. In addition, these two different experimental manipulations produced distinct patterns of deficits despite having nearly identical effects on event sequence timing. These findings suggest that event timing alone cannot explain the age deficits observed in high-order implicit sequence learning.     

Female Patrons of Porn

Although the proportion of women who patronize sexually oriented book-video-novelty stores appears to be growing, little is known about the phenomenon generally or about male–female differences. In the only studies of “female patrons of porn,” both Hefley (2007 Hefley , Kristen . 2007 . “Stigma Management of Male and Female Customers in to Non-Urban Adult Novelty Store.” Deviant Behavior 28 : 79 – 109 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Berkowitz (2006 Berkowitz , Dana . 2006 . “Consuming Eroticism: Gender Performances and Presentations in Pornographic Establishments.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35 : 583 – 606 . [Google Scholar]) report that half of the customers that they observed entering two stores were women. Compared to men, women were less likely to enter alone. To further investigate this phenomenon, we observed customers entering 33 stores for 162 hours over a two-year period. Whereas the observations of Hefley (2007 Hefley , Kristen . 2007 . “Stigma Management of Male and Female Customers in to Non-Urban Adult Novelty Store.” Deviant Behavior 28 : 79 – 109 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Berkowitz (2006 Berkowitz , Dana . 2006 . “Consuming Eroticism: Gender Performances and Presentations in Pornographic Establishments.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35 : 583 – 606 . [Google Scholar]) were limited to a few of the busiest hours, our observations span all seven weekdays and all hours. Seventeen percent of the patrons who entered the stores were women. This proportion varied over time and across the 33 stores. Women prefer to shop on weekend evenings in stores that provide visible security.     

Religiosity,Delinquency, and the Deterrent Effects of Informal Sanctions

Past research in deterrence theory suggests that informal social sanctions intervene in the effect of religiosity on criminal and delinquent behavior, such that more religious individuals tend to perceive stronger informal sanctions (Grasmick, Bursik and Cochran 1991a Grasmick , Harold G. , Robert J. Bursik Jr. , and John K. Cochran . 1991a. “Render unto Caesar What is Caesar's”: Religiosity and Taxpayers' Inclination to Cheat.” Sociological Quarterly 32(2):251–266.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Grasmick, Kinsey and Cochran 1991b Grasmick , Harold G. , Karyl Kinsey , and John K. Cochran . 1991b . “Denomination, Religiosity and Compliance with the Law: A Study of Adults.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 30 ( 1 ): 99 – 107 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This study examines the influence of religiosity and social deterrence on college students' delinquent behavior, as measured by anticipated violation of a university's alcohol policy. Data were collected through a survey of undergraduate students (n = 484) at a large South-Midwestern public university that instituted a campus alcohol ban. The survey took place three months after the ban was implemented and asked students about religiosity, perceptions of informal deterrence, and expectations of violating the policy. Results partially support the hypothesis that religiosity predicts conformity primarily through the deterrent threat of informal sanctions. Religiosity increased perceived threats of shame and embarrassment, which in turn reduced the likelihood of anticipated policy violation. When controlling for demographics, college lifestyle, attitudes, and past drinking behavior, shame remained a significant predictor of expected policy violation, but embarrassment did not. Also, contrary to expectations, one measure of fundamentalist religiosity (biblical literalness) retained a direct main effect on intended compliance, even when taking informal sanctions into account. Theoretical, methodological, and policy implications are discussed.     

Growin' Grass: Paradise by the Sodium Light

This qualitative study describes members of a little-known and little-researched subculture: small-time marijuana cultivators in the United States. Couched within a symbolic interaction theoretical framework, extensive ethnographic interviews were conducted with eighteen marijuana growers who cultivate cannabis plants in their homes for small sales and personal use. This study creates a typology of growers based on motivation for growing and techniques of cultivation. The authors also illustrate how marijuana growers in this study used various techniques outlined by Sykes and Matza (1957 Sykes , Gresham M. and David Matza . 1957 . “Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency.” American Sociological Review 22 : 664 – 670 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to neutralize their involvement in a deviant and illegal activity.     

Corporate Crime as Trouble: Reporting on the Corporate Scandals of 2002

Bankruptcies at Enron and other corporations led to revelations of widespread wrongdoing: the Corporate Scandals of 2002. Congressional hearings into the scandals culminated in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002). There was extensive media coverage of these events. Using insights from Emerson and Messinger's (1977 Emerson , Robert and S. Sheldon Messinger . 1977 . “The Micro-Politics of Trouble.” Social Problems 25 : 121 – 134 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Micro-Politics of Trouble perspective, we consider how three newspapers covered the scandals. We focus on how these scandals were defined, explained, and the remedies that were proposed for them. We consider what the Micro-Politics of Trouble perspective offers for an understanding of these scandals, corporate crime and deviance generally, and the media's role in reporting these issues.     

The Night the Raving Died: The Social Construction of a Local Drug Panic

Scholars have recently reformulated the moral panic framework (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994 Goode , Erich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda . 1994 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance . Oxford : Blackwell Publishing Ltd . [Google Scholar], 2009 ——— . 2009 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance , 2nd ed . Oxford : Blackwell Publishing Ltd . [Google Scholar]). We employ this new framework in an evaluation of Gainesville, Florida's adoption of the anti-rave law. Our findings suggest that both individuals and groups were vital in the construction of an interest group model moral panic that led to the adoption of this law. Although researchers have utilized the moral panic framework in analyzing many social and legal changes over the past 40 years, it has also garnered much criticism. In an effort to further advance the framework, we provide several modifications to Goode and Ben-Yehuda's (2009 ——— . 2009 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance , 2nd ed . Oxford : Blackwell Publishing Ltd . [Google Scholar]) most recent reconceptualization and recommendations for future moral panic research.     

Local and global processing biases fail to influence face,object, and word recognition

Three studies investigated whether encouraging people to use either global or local processing using the Navon task (Navon, 1977 Navon, D. 1977. Forest before the trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9: 353–383. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) influenced recognition memory for upright and inverted pictures of faces, objects, and words. Contrary to the striking results of Macrae and Lewis (2002 Macrae, C. N. and Lewis, H. L. 2002. Do I know you? Processing orientation and face recognition. Psychological Science, 13: 194–196. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), no effect of such cross-task processing biases were found. In particular, encouraging global processing did not improve the recognition of upright faces, whilst encouraging local processing failed to improve the recognition of words. These results suggest that using the Navon task to manipulate people's processing strategy typically does not have a large, consistent effect on recognition memory. Instead, prior performance of an unrelated task may only influence subsequent recognition memory under restricted circumstances. Therefore, the cross-task processing bias effect does not provide researchers with a powerful, reliable tool with which to investigate the relative importance of local versus global, configural processing of visual stimuli.     

the “death” macguffin redux: comments on best

In commenting on my critique of the “deviance is dead” thesis (Goode, 2003 Goode, Erich. 2003. “The MacGuffin that Refuses to Die: An Investigation into the Condition of the Sociology of Deviance.”. Deviant Behavior, 24: 507–33. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Joel Best (in this issue) makes several points which seem shaky. Examined critically–and agreeing that the field has declined during the past 20 years in creativity and influence on sociology generally–the sociology of deviance is far from “dead.” In fact, as indicated by a number of measures, its health is as robust as ever. Here, I grapple with the conundrum of why the “death” myth is so widely accepted among sociologists. It is possible that the field's political incorrectness may provide an explanation to this mystery.     

Does Low Self-Control Predict Fictitious Drug Use and Untruthfulness?

This study tests Hirschi and Gottfredson's (1993 Hirschi , Travis and Michael R. Gottfredson . 1993 . “Commentary: Testing the General Theory of Crime.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 30 : 47 – 54 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) argument that self-control is related to survey response patterns. It is hypothesized that individuals who are low in self-control will be less likely to provide honest answers in survey research, a critical but untested question with respect to the general theory. Data from approximately 1,600 high school students in a Southeastern U.S. state are used to examine the relationship between low self-control and self-reported indicators of fictitious drug use and honesty when completing a survey questionnaire dealing with deviant behavior. Findings indicate that low self-control is significantly related to reports of having used a fictitious drug and having been untruthful when completing a survey questionnaire, suggesting that the reliability of survey research may depend on individual traits such as low self-control.     

Emotion and Appraisal Profiles of the Needs for Competence and Relatedness

This study examined the emotion and appraisal correlates of the needs for Competence and Relatedness. Using experience-sampling, fluctuations of competence and relatedness throughout a day's period were found to correspond to fluctuations in emotions and appraisals in ways theoretically consistent with the self-determination theory (Deci &; Ryan, 2000 Deci , E. L. , &; Ryan , R. M. ( 2000 ). The “what” and “why” of goal-pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior . Psychological Inquiry , 11 , 227 – 268 .[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Each need was related in specific ways to the six emotions examined (anger, sadness, fear, guilt, shame, and joy) and, more interesting, was characterized by a specific appraisal-profile. Implications of these findings for needs processes are discussed.     

Neutralizing Music Piracy: An Empirical Examination

The current study sought to test the viability of employing Sykes and Matza's (1957 Sykes , G. and D. Matza . 1957 . “Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency.” American Sociological Review 22 : 664 – 670 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) techniques of neutralization as a framework for understanding online music piracy. Using data from a sample of 2,032 undergraduates from a large Midwestern university, the relevance of neutralization theory is tested via multinomial logistic regression while controlling for other theoretical predictors and demographic variables. The findings indicated that greater acceptance of the techniques associated with denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim, and appeal to higher loyalties significantly predicted moderate levels of piracy participation. Furthermore, the effect of appeals to higher loyalty on piracy was found to be conditioned by the respondent's approval of the behavior. Overall, results suggested that university settings may unwittingly facilitate a climate for online piracy whereby students place a higher value on group norms rather than legal norms and do not consider the harms associated with the behavior.     

The illusion of the positive: The impact of natural and induced mood on older adults' false recall

ABSTRACT

Recent research suggests that affective and motivational processes can influence age differences in memory. In the current study, we examine the impact of both natural and induced mood state on age differences in false recall. Older and younger adults performed a version of the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM; Roediger & McDermott, 1995 Roediger III, H. L. and McDermott, K. B. 1995. Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21: 803–814. doi:10.1037/0278–7393.21.4.803[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 803) false memory paradigm in either their natural mood state or after a positive or negative mood induction. Results indicated that, after accounting for age differences in basic cognitive function, age-related differences in positive mood during the testing session were related to increased false recall in older adults. Inducing older adults into a positive mood also exacerbated age differences in false memory. In contrast, veridical recall did not appear to be systematically influenced by mood. Together, these results suggest that positive mood states can impact older adults' information processing and potentially increase underlying cognitive age differences.     

Deviant or Normal? Female Bodybuilders' Accounts of Social Reactions

In response to calls for more inclusive and nuanced studies of deviance, Heckert and Heckert (2002 Heckert , Alex and Druann Maria Heckert . 2002 . “A New Typology of Deviance: Integrating Normative and Reactivist Definitions of Deviance.” Deviant Behavior 23 : 449 – 479 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) developed a typology that incorporates both normative and reactive definitions. Their model accounts for negative deviance, positive deviance, deviance admiration, and deviant conformity (rate-busting). Through participant observation and in-depth interviews with ten amateur female bodybuilders at a university in the United States, we apply the typology to explain their perceptions of social reactions from a variety of audiences. Female bodybuilders' accounts of others' reactions to their increasingly muscular bodies, extreme dieting practices, and intense workout routines provide intriguing empirical examples of all four deviance types. Findings reflect the complexity of a deviance–conformity continuum and support the call for studies that go beyond negative social response and countercultural behavior or appearance.     

The Lost Analyst and the Phoenix: Image,Word, Myth,and the Journey from Dissociation to Integration

ABSTRACT

The Phoenix myth is commonly thought of as a simple Egyptian parable of re-incarnation. In contrast, this analytic dyad found that the visual images evoked by its elaborated mythemes (sub-plots) related to the various existential moods and affects characteristic of trauma identified by Stolorow (2007 Stolorow, R. D. (2007), Trauma and Human Experience: Autobiographical, Psychoanalytic, and Philosophical Reflections [Psychoanalytic Book Series, Vol. 23]. New York: The Analytic Press. [Google Scholar]), suggesting a psychological purpose, that of emotional self-renewal. Mythology has most consistently been adopted for use in Jung’s analytical psychology, but this article demonstrates this myth’s usefulness with a contemporary relational psychoanalytic approach, that of intersubjective-systems theory. This was effective for an analysand whose former analysis had been abruptly terminated. It was found that the dialogic exploration of possible meaning in the mythemes brought dissociated experience into language, assisted with the emotional integration of the trauma, and restored the analysand’s diminished sense-of-being. Images bring together diverse somatic, cognitive, and verbal information, normally separated into different communication “codes” (Bucci, 1997a Bucci, W. (1997a), Symptoms and symbols: A multiple code theory of somatization. Psychoanal. Inq., 17: 151–172.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This ancient myth’s longevity may be due to a useful psychological function; its images can aid the organizing of unformulated unconscious chaotic experience and assist in the process of bringing dissociated or preverbal emotions and moods into language. The utility of the Phoenix myth in a relational dialogical process that helps symbolize unsymbolized unconscious content could assist in work with other survivors of catastrophic loss.     

There goes the neighbourhood: Contextual control over the breadth of lexical activation when reading aloud

There are currently two computational accounts of how the time to read pseudohomophones (like BRANE) and their nonword controls (like FRANE) varies with changes in context. In Reynolds and Besner's (2005) account, readers vary the breadth of lexical activation in response to changes in context. A competing account proposed by Kwantes and Marmurek (2007 Kwantes, P. and Marmurek, H. 2007. Controlling lexical contributions to the reading of pseudohomophones. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14: 373–378. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and independently by Perry, Ziegler, and Zorzi (2007 Perry, C., Ziegler, J. C. and Zorzi, M. 2007. Nested incremental modeling in the development of computational theories: The CDP+ model of reading aloud. Psychological Review, 114: 273–315. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) has readers varying their response criterion in response to changes in context. The present work adjudicates between these two accounts by examining how the effect of neighbourhood density changes as a function of list context when reading pseudohomophones aloud. The results of an experiment and simulations from a leading computational model support the lexical breadth account, but are inconsistent with the response criterion account.     

Dualisms,Dichotomies and Dead Ends: Limitations of Analytic Thinking about Sport

In this essay I attempt to show the limitations of analytic thinking and the kinds of dead ends into which such analyses may lead us in the philosophy of sport. As an alternative, I argue for a philosophy of complementation and compatibility in the face of what appear to be exclusive alternatives. This is a position that is sceptical of bifurcations and other simplified portrayals of reality but does not dismiss them entirely. A philosophy of complementation traffics in the realm of ambiguities, paradoxes, differences by degree, tendencies, mixtures, polarities, tensions, complexes, transitions and all other forms of messiness. I note that this position has been generated, in part, by work conducted in the empirical sciences and that complementation provides a paradigm that is useful across the academic disciplines.

To show the ways in which analytic thinking leads to dead ends, I analyse the epistemological debate over ‘broad internalism’ engaged in by Russell (1999 Russell, J. S. 1999. Are rules all an umpire has to work with?. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, XXVI: 27–49. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], 2004 Russell, J. S. 2004. Moral realism in sport. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, XXXI: 142–160. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), Dixon (2003 Dixon, Nicholas. 2003. Canadian figure skaters, French judges, and realism in sport. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, XXX: 103–116. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), Simon (2000 Simon, Robert. 2000. Internalism and internal values in sport. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, XXVII: 1–16. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], 2004 Simon, Robert. 2004. From ethnocentrism to realism: Can discourse ethics bridge the gap?. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, XXXI: 122–141. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and Morgan (2004 Morgan, William. 2004. Moral antirealism, internalism, and sport. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, XXXI: 61–83.  [Google Scholar]). Evidence for the claim that they reached a mostly unhelpful stalemate is based on the fact that they did not provide any third option and moreover that the analytic tools and ground rules they employ prevent its discovery. I suggest that all four authors are comfortable with the analytic tendency to bifurcate reality and require choices among exclusionary alternatives. I also claim that they treat reason as if it were generated by a ‘mind from nowhere’. Philosophical anthropology, I suggest, provides much-needed somatic grounding that would reign in excessively optimistic views of reason (Dixon, Simon and Russell) or excessively plastic interpretations of mind (Morgan). It can also provide evidence that could help us understand why hominids (even modern ones) are so attracted to dichotomies and why we have so much trouble in reconciling apparent incompatibilities.     

Beyond Schools: Reply to Marsman,Ly, and Wagenmakers

We respond to comments by Marsman, Ly, and Wagenmakers (2016 Marsman, M., Ly, A., &; Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2016). Four requirements for an acceptable research program. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38(6), 308–312. doi:10.1080/01973533.2016.1221349[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) on Witte and Zenker (2016b Witte, E. H., &; Zenker, F. (2016b). Reconstructing recent work on macrosocial stress as a research program. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38(6), 301–307. doi:10.1080/01973533.2016.1207077[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]).