Structure and Measurement Invariance of Adult Romantic Attachment

Romantic attachment is a popular theory for explaining affect, cognition, and behavior in romantic contexts. This popularity has led to a surge of self-report measures assessing dimensions of attachment. In this study, we considered the ability of 2 common attachment measures, the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ) and the Experience in Close Relationships–Revised (ECR–R), to replicate the avoidant and anxious attachment factors. We also determined the degree of measurement invariance across, and mean differences between, genders and single and nonsingle individuals. Both the AAQ (N = 650) and the ECR–R (N = 1,271) successfully distinguished avoidant and attachment factors. The AAQ showed evidence for partial strong measurement invariance, whereas the ECR-R showed strict factorial invariance for both gender and relationship status. Gender differences were detected on both measures in a direction consistent with previous research, with males exhibiting higher levels of avoidant attachment (relative to females) and females exhibiting higher levels of anxious attachment (relative to males). Furthermore, when compared to individuals who were currently single, those in romantic relationships exhibited lower levels of avoidant tendencies. This research aligns with the notion that the AAQ and ECR–R reliably assess similar constructs, across genders and single and nonsingle individuals.     

Unitization during category learning

Five experiments explored the question of whether new perceptual units can be developed if they are useful for a category learning task, and if so, what the constraints on this unitization process are. During category learning, participants were required to attend either a single component or a conjunction of 5 components. Consistent with unitization, the conjunctive task became much easier with practice; this improvement was not found for the single-component task or for conjunctive tasks in which the components could not be unitized. Influences of component organization (Experiment 1), component contiguity (Experiment 2), component proximity (Experiment 3), and number of components (Experiment 4) on practice effects were found. Deconvolved response times (Experiment 5) showed that prolonged practice yielded faster responses than predicted by an analytic model that integrates evidence from independently perceived components.     

Adult Age Differences in Attention to Semantic Context

ABSTRACT

In three experiments age differences in attention to semantic context were examined. The performance of younger adults (ages 18–29 years) and older adults (ages 60–79 years) on a semantic priming task indicated that both age groups could use information regarding the probability that a prime and target would be related to flexibly anticipate the target category given the prime word (Experiment 1). The timing by which target expectancies were reflected in reaction time performance was delayed for older adults as compared to younger adults, but only when the target was expected to be semantically unrelated to the prime word (Experiment 2). When the target and prime were expected to be semantically related, the time course of priming effects was similar for younger and older adults (Experiment 3). Together the findings indicate that older adults are able to use semantic context and the probability of stimulus relatedness to anticipate target information. Although aging may be associated with a delay in the timing by which controlled expectancies are expressed, these findings argue against an age-related decline in the ability to represent contextual information.     

Testing Measurement Invariance of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen in a Belgian Adult Sample

The Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010) is a frequently used concise version of the Dark Triad to measure three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy and, narcissism. The present study has examined measurement invariance in a sample of Belgian adults. The present study aims to assess measurement invariance of the Dutch version of the Dirty Dozen measure across gender in a large city-based representative adult sample in Belgium (N = 1587). Multi-group first-order confirmatory factor analysis for categorical indicators was utilized. In addition, unique associations between Dirty Dozen traits, trait self-control and, acceptance of illegitimate norms were examined in a series of structural equation models. Results indicated that the internal consistency of the Dirty Dozen subscales was good for Machiavellianism (α = 0.80) and narcissism (α = 0.80), but modest for psychopathy (α = 0.64). The hypothesized three correlated factors model with separate factors for Machiavellianism, psychopathy and, narcissism provided a poor fit for men and women. Invariance testing across gender showed evidence for weak invariance only, indicating that the underlying latent factors are measured the same way with the same metric in the two populations. However, we were not able to establish strong measurement invariance. Observed group differences should be interpreted with caution. Furthermore, Machiavellianism and psychopathy were strongly associated with trait self-control in both men and women. Strong correlations were found between acceptance of illegitimate norms and Dirty Dozen traits, Machiavellianism and, psychopathy, but not with narcissism.     

Psychometric Properties of Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test in an Adult Psychiatric Outpatient Sample

Little research has been conducted on Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development in adult psychiatric outpatients. The measure is a promising method of assessing a construct of personality and character functioning that should be useful research on psychopathology and in choosing treatment modalities. The data presented in this study address the question of the psychometric adequacy of the measure in this segment of the subject population. Specifically, estimates of interrater reliability, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability are presented for a sample of 42 adult outpatients. In addition, the relationship between total protocol ratings and item sum scores is explored.     

成人短时记忆发展的实验研究

以数字、图形和颜色为实验材料,测量了青年和老年被试在记忆广度和斯腾伯格任务中的成绩。结果表明随着年龄的增大,三种材料的记忆广度都有显著的下降,记忆的搜索速度也减慢;发现在老年期不同材料的记忆广度与搜索速度也存在反比例关系。作者认为这一结果对短时记忆容量发展研究具有重要意义并进行了进一步的讨论。     

Adult Age Differences in Memory for Verbs and Nouns

Younger and older adults were asked to remember noun pairs (e.g., head – cap), verb pairs (e.g., bounce – throw), and verb-noun pairs (e.g., break – stick). For half of the pairs, participants used imagined objects and performed an action or series of related actions for each pair. For the other half of the pairs, participants read but did not perform the pairs. Free recall and cued recall tests revealed that age differences in memory for both performed and nonperformed items were larger for verbs than for nouns. The recall advantage of nouns over verbs was larger for older than for younger adults. Verbs are hypothesized to be more difficult for older adults to remember because they are more and less specific than nouns and because it is more difficult to integrate verbs with other words than to integrate nouns with other words.     

Patterns and Predictors of Adult Age Differences in Mental Imagery

Adult age differences in, and predictors of, component imagery processes were examined across a broad elderly adult age range (65-86 years). Relative to younger adults, older adults were slower and less accurate on tasks of image generation, maintenance, scanning, and rotation. Ability to maintain mental images in particular was compromised by older age. Manipulations of stimulus complexity produced inconsistent differential age effects across tasks. Processing speed and sensorimotor functioning were prominent predictors of performance and age-related variance in all imagery components, with smaller contributions from working memory and executive function. These findings suggest that age-related decrements in individual imagery processes depend primarily on how quickly information can be processed and on the neurophysiological integrity of the ageing brain.     

Using Score Equating and Measurement Invariance to Examine the Flynn Effect in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

The Flynn effect (FE; i.e., increase in mean IQ scores over time) is commonly viewed as reflecting population shifts in intelligence, despite the fact that most FE studies have not investigated the assumption of score comparability. Consequently, the extent to which these mean differences in IQ scores reflect population shifts in cognitive abilities versus changes in the instruments used to measure these abilities is unclear. In this study, we used modern psychometric tools to examine the FE. First, we equated raw scores for each common subtest to be on the same scale across instruments. This enabled the combination of scores from all three instruments into one of 13 age groups before converting raw scores into Z scores. Second, using age-based standardized scores for standardization samples, we examined measurement invariance across the second (revised), third, and fourth editions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Results indicate that while scores were equivalent across the third and fourth editions, they were not equivalent across the second and third editions. Results suggest that there is some evidence for an increase in intelligence, but also call into question many published FE findings as presuming the instruments' scores are invariant when this assumption is not warranted.     

Adult Age Differences in the Access and Deletion Functions of Inhibition

ABSTRACT

This study examined age differences in working memory using a delayed-matching-to-sample (DMTS) task. Based on the inhibitory decline hypothesis, which posits that older adults are more susceptible to interference, age differences were expected to be greater for older adults when irrelevant information was present during encoding. Two experiments tested both the access and deletion functions of inhibition. In both experiments, performance was equated for older and younger participants on a no-interference version of the DMTS task to control for age differences in encoding information into working memory. Results consistently showed equivalent effects of distraction for older and younger adults regardless of the difficulty of the perceptual discrimination of targets and distractors, the degree of processing of the distractors, or the semantic relationship between targets and distractors. These results support theories that propose age differences in encoding to explain age differences in working memory, and are inconsistent with theories that propose that older adults are more susceptible to interference than younger adults.     

Adult Age and Gender Differences in Eyewitness Recall in Field Settings1

Six-hundred-fifty-one citizens were stopped in public places and tested for prompted recall of physical characteristics of a young woman to whom they had spoken for approximately 15 s, 2 min earlier. Recall differed as a function of the two targets used on five of eight characteristics, but no significant differences were found for either target as a function of the gender or age group of the witnesses. Young adults (18-29 years of age) in general were superior to middle-aged adults (30-44), who in turn were superior to older adults (45-65). Women were significantly more accurate than men in accuracy of recall for weight, and for characteristics judged to be more important than less important for person memory. Male and female witnesses were equally confident in their recall performance. Young and middle-aged groups were significantly more confident in recall than the oldest group. Significant correlations were found between confidence and accuracy of recall for men and for women, and for each age group. Women made significantly longer duration estimates of the encounters with the targets than did men. Men overestimated the duration by a 2:1 ratio, and women overestimated by a 3:1 ratio. No significant correlations were found between accuracy of duration estimates and confidence in reports. The results were interpreted in terms of their forensic importance.     

Unitization of Sublexical Components in Implicit Memory for Novel Words

This study examines the role of componential knowledge and unitization processes in implicit memory. In two experiments, subjects studied novel words formed out of morphemes, syllables, or pseudosyllables. They then completed an implicit task requiring a judgment as to which of two items (one old, one new) was a better English word. Experiment 1 replicated previous results showing priming for nonwords formed out of morphemes and syllables but not seudosyllables. This effect was present when orthographic factors were controlled and, unlike explicit (recognition) memory, was equally strong following visual and semantic processing. Experiment 2 showed that little priming was present across a variety of conditions in which the connections between components were altered across study and test. Results are interpreted as evidence for the role of perceptually based activation and integration processes in implicit memory for novel stimuli.     

Loneliness and Attitudes toward Aloneness in Belgian Adolescents: Measurement Invariance across Language,Age, and Gender Groups

In this study, the factor structure and psychometric properties of a French adaptation of the well-established Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA) was investigated in a French-speaking sample of Belgian adolescents (N?=?641; Mage?=?14.35, SD?=?2.03; 53.4% girls). In addition, measurement invariance analyses across the two main language groups in Belgium (i.e., Dutch-speaking and French-speaking) and across age and gender were conducted on a combined sample of French-speaking and Dutch-speaking Belgian adolescents (N?=?1282; Mage?=?14.36 years, SD?=?2.03; 53.6% female). Subsequently, group mean differences across language, age, and gender groups were investigated. Convincing support was found for the expected four-factor structure of the French adaptation of the LACA and the measure showed good reliability. Results further indicated that Belgian adolescents from the two principal language groups and from different age and gender groups interpreted the items of the LACA similarly. Therefore, analyses of group mean differences could be compared. Given the small effect sizes that accompanied the obtained effects, replication research is needed to further investigate these group mean differences.     

Adult Age Differences in Divided Attention: Effects of Elaboration During Memory Encoding

The present study used attention operating characteristics (AOCs) to examine whether age differences existed in divided attention (DA) performance when both primary (cued recall) and secondary tasks (letter recall) were analyzed simultaneously. Additionally, to determine if age differences in DA might depend on the amount of elaborative processing required at study, participants either read (low elaboration) or generated (high elaboration) target words. AOC analyses indicated that performance was disrupted most when attention was divided at encoding versus retrieval, and dividing attention had a greater negative impact on older adults’ performance relative to younger adults’. Furthermore, the high elaboration condition was less affected by DA than the low elaboration condition for both age groups. The results indicate that although the ability to divide attention declines with age, some elaborative study strategies may be more resistant to DA effects for both younger and older adults.     

Adult Age Differences in Conscious and Unconscious Influences on Memory for Novel Associations

Forty-eight younger and 48 older adults generated sentences under self-paced conditions for semantically unrelated word pairs. Then they completed word + word stem pairs under inclusion and exclusion instructions for items that appeared in the same or different context relative to study. Performance on the inclusion and exclusion tasks was transformed into estimates of conscious and unconscious influences on memory by a series of equations as specified by Jacoby's (1991) Process Dissociation Procedure (PDP). Three notable findings were obtained. First, younger and older adults displayed a context effect when conscious, but not unconscious, influences on memory were considered. Second, age invariance in the strength of unconscious influences on memory was observed when data analysis was performed on the entire subject sample. In contrast, the estimated strength of unconscious contributions to memory was stronger for younger than older adults when data analysis was restricted to participants who made errors on the exclusion task. Third, conscious influences on memory were stronger for younger than older adults regardless of which method of data analysis was used. Taken together, these findings shed light on previous research which has examined the complex relationship between age, test awareness, and the implicit retention of novel verbal associations. They also highlight some of the methodological issues regarding the use of the PDP to measure age-related differences in the strength of unconscious memory processes.