Observing and engaging in purposeful actions with objects influences estimates of their size

A ladle was recalled as being taller by participants who observed tedious removal of sand from it with a small teaspoon than by those who observed removal with a larger spoon. A second experiment showed that the number of darts thrown in order to hit a target correlated negatively with memory estimates of the size of the target, a finding replicated in a third experiment with size estimates made while the target was visible. The first two experiments suggest that the way an object is used can influence memory of its size. The third experiment supports the hypothesis that in vivo size estimation of familiar objects may employ a mechanism that derives size from memory and that size memory can be distorted by the way an object was used.     

Coping with a changing soundscape: avoidance,adjustments and adaptations

Since the industrial age, background anthropogenic noise has become a pervasive feature of many habitable environments. This relatively recent environmental feature can be particularly challenging for organisms that use acoustic forms of communication due to its propensity for masking and decreasing the potential acoustic space of signals. Furthermore, anthropogenic noise may affect biological processes including animal interactions, physiological and behavioural responses to stimuli and cognitive development. However, animals’ cognitive abilities may enable them to cope with high levels of anthropogenic noise through learning, the employment of acoustic and behavioural flexibility as well as the use of multi-modal sensory systems. We are only just beginning to understand how neural structures, endocrine systems and behaviour are mechanistically linked in these scenarios, providing us with information we can use to mitigate deleterious effects of pervasive noise on wildlife, along with highlighting the remarkable adaptability of animals to an increasingly anthropogenic world. In this review, I will focus mainly on birds, due to the amount of literature on the topic, and survey recent advancements made in two main spheres: (1) how anthropogenic noise affects cognitive processes and (2) how cognition enables animals to cope with increasingly noisy environments. I will be highlighting current gaps in our knowledge, such as how noise might impact behavioural traits such as predation, as well as how noise causes physical damage to neurotransmitters and affects stress levels, in order to direct future studies on this topic.     

Contingency, causation, and adaptive inference

In contingency judgment tasks involving 2 event types, individuals weight the a and b cells of a 2 x 2 contingency table more than the c and d cells. Some theorists have argued that they can provide normative justifications for this weighting and that the weighting reflects simple heuristics that are adaptive in the real world. The authors show that, to avoid error, individual judgments about real contingencies should be more subtle than these supposedly adaptive heuristics allow.     

Parents, peer groups, and other socializing influences

Three propositions that are central to J. R. Harris's group socialization theory (1995, 1998) are considered in this review. These propositions are as follows: (a) Parental behaviors have no long-term effects on children's psychological characteristics, (b) peer groups are the primary environmental influence on psychological functioning, and (c) dyadic relationships are situation-specific and do not generalize. The evidence that J. R. Harris has outlined in support of each of these propositions is reviewed, as is additional empirical research not considered by J. R. Harris. Serious limitations to each proposition are identified. The available evidence is more consistent with a model of multiple socialization agents. An expanded research agenda that permits a more definitive test of J. R. Harris's propositions and social relationship theory is proposed.     

Figure-ground formation by movement: influences and effects

A twelve-letter array was segmented into figure and ground by moving some of its letters. Moved letters were shifted one letter-width left of right, independently of each other, in apparent movement. Since the figure of a display attracts attention, identification of letters of the figure segment should show an advantage over letters of the background segment. Three results are of interest. First, moved letters were identified more accurately and faster than stationary letters when only one or two letters moved. Stationary letters showed the advantage when eight of the twelve letters moved. This result suggests that the segment seen as figure is determined by both rapidly encodable letter movement and by the number of moved letters within the display. Second, segmentation of the visual display acids identification of moved letters in less than 90 ms, or well before the eye can move to the selected letter position. Third, letters in the figure segment which are closer to fixation are more likely to be identified than more eccentric letters.     

Cognitive control: dynamic, sustained, and voluntary influences

The cost of incongruent stimuli is reduced when conflict is expected. This series of experiments tested whether this improved performance is due to repetition priming or to enhanced cognitive control. Using a paradigm in which Word and Number Stroop alternated every trial, Experiment 1 assessed dynamic trial-to-trial changes. Incongruent trials led to task-specific reduction of conflict (trial n + 2) without cross-task modulation (trial n + 1), but this was fully explained by repetition priming. In contrast, an increased ratio of incongruent words did lead to sustained task-specific enhancement, above and beyond repetition priming (Experiment 2). Experiments 3 and 4 assessed the voluntary modulation of cognitive control: A cue predicted the congruency of the incoming trial, allowing participants to establish the correct mindset (Word Stroop in Experiment 3, Flanker task in Experiment 4). Preparing oneself to process an incongruent word (or flanker) enhanced conflict resolution in the subsequent Number Stroop, an example of cross-task modulation. Taken together, these experiments reveal the multifaceted aspects of conflict resolution: Trial-to-trial changes are often due to repetition priming; sustained modulations brought about by task demands are task specific; and voluntary modulations are task general.     

Computerized adaptive testing,anxiety levels,and gender differences

This study compares the amount of test anxiety experienced on a computerized adaptive test (CAT) to a paper-and-pencil test (P&P), as well as the state test anxiety experienced between males and females. Ninety-four middle school CAT examinees were compared to 65 middle school P&P examinees on their responses to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) after taking a standardized achievement test. Results of a multiple regression showed that P&P examinees had a higher mean STAIC score than CAT examinees after controlling for trait test anxiety and computer anxiety. Evidence of neither a main nor a moderator effect of gender was found. However, a subsequent path analysis gave evidence of an indirect effect of gender on STAIC score mediated by trait test anxiety. Results are discussed in the context of stereotype threat and the implications for the use of CAT in schools, given the digital divide between race and socioeconomic status. Recommendations for future research and practice are offered.     

Williams syndrome: cognition, personality, and adaptive behavior

Williams syndrome is caused by a microdeletion of at least 16 genes on chromosome 7q11.23. The syndrome results in mild to moderate mental retardation or learning disability. The behavioral phenotype for Williams syndrome is characterized by a distinctive cognitive profile and an unusual personality profile. Relative to overall level of intellectual ability, individuals with Williams syndrome typically show a clear strength in auditory rote memory, a strength in language, and an extreme weakness in visuospatial construction. The personality of individuals with Williams syndrome involves high sociability, overfriendliness, and empathy, with an undercurrent of anxiety related to social situations. The adaptive behavior profile for Williams syndrome involves clear strength in socialization skills (especially interpersonal skills related to initiating social interaction), strength in communication, and clear weakness in daily living skills and motor skills, relative to overall level of adaptive behavior functioning. Literature relevant to each of the components of the Williams syndrome behavioral phenotype is reviewed, including operationalizations of the Williams syndrome cognitive profile and the Williams syndrome personality profile. The sensitivity and specificity of these profiles for Williams syndrome, relative to individuals with other syndromes or mental retardation or borderline normal intelligence of unknown etiology, is considered. The adaptive behavior profile is discussed in relation to the cognitive and personality profiles. The importance of operationalizations of crucial components of the behavioral phenotype for the study of genotype/phenotype correlations in Williams syndrome is stressed. MRDD Research Reviews 2000;6:148-158.     

Unconscious influences revealed. Attention, awareness, and control.

Recent findings of dissociations between direct and indirect tests of memory and perception have renewed enthusiasm for the study of unconscious processing. The authors argue that such findings are heir to the same problems of interpretation as are earlier evidence of unconscious influences--namely, one cannot eliminate the possibility that conscious processes contaminated the measure of unconscious processes. To solve this problem, the authors define unconscious influences in terms of lack of conscious control and then describe a process dissociation procedure that yields separate quantitative estimates of the concurrent contributions of unconscious and consciously controlled processing to task performance. This technique allows one to go beyond demonstrating the existence of unconscious processes to examine factors that determine their magnitude.     

Social influences on creativity: Evaluation,coaction, and surveillance

Numerous anecdotal accounts exist of an incubation period promoting creativity and problem solving. This article examines whether incubation is an empirically verifiable phenomenon and the possible role therein of nonconscious processing. An Idea Generation Test was employed to examine (a) whether an incubation effect occurred and (b) the impact of different types of break on this effect. In the Idea Generation Test, two groups of participants were given a distracting break, during which they completed either a similar or an unrelated task, and a third group worked continuously (N = 90). The Idea Generation Test was validated against established measures of cognitive ability and personality, and was found to exhibit variance distinct from those marker tests. Most important, results demonstrated that having a break during which one works on a completely different task is more beneficial for idea production than working on a similar task or generating ideas continuously. The advantage afforded by a break cannot be accounted for in terms of relief from functional fixedness or general fatigue, and, although it may be explicable by relief from task-specific fatigue, explanations of an incubation effect in terms of nonconscious processing should be (re)considered.     

Reduction, integrated theory, and the study of religion

The philosophy of science helps us to sort out and evaluate conflicting claims about reduction. Some persons maintain that reductions can be useful in constructing theories in science. Others hold that, with certain possible exceptions, reductions are likely to prove unproductive as well as inelegant. Such disagreements sometimes turn on differences in the scale or scope of the reductions envisioned. A promising strategy is to subsume considerations of reduction into efforts to find compatibilities among the claims and theoretical constructs of different disciplines. The postulation of compatibilities, advanced under rubrics such as ‘unified theory’, ‘consilience’, and ‘integrated theory’, holds great promise for studies of religion undertaken with reference to the contemporary cognitive and evolutionary sciences. Numbers of such studies view religious phenomena as, in part, expressions of evolved capacities and propensities that are not themselves necessarily religious.     

Cognitive, motivational, social, and environmental influences on children's food choices

This study tested the applicability of a cognitive-motivational model of health behavior to children's food choices. A sample of 107 elementary schoolchildren provided ratings of 15 foods in terms of possible choice criteria (e.g., how tasty or healthful specific foods were) and social or environmental influences (e.g., whether foods were eaten by friends or were easy to get). Several measures of food consumption were taken, and cognitive-developmental level was assessed. Within-person correlations were calculated between food choices and each choice criterion and social/environmental factor. These "correlational indices" of influences on food choice subsequently were used to identify five distinct subgroups in the sample. Children at the operational level of cognitive development tended to be in one of three groups characterized by health orientation in food choice, taste orientation, or multiple-motive orientation. Dietary quality was poorest in the taste-oriented group. Children at the preoperational level tended to have one of two undifferentiated patterns of values across the correlational indices. Results provide evidence of: the viability of cognitive-motivational models to explain children's food choices, the promise of within-person research methodology, and the potential for enhanced health behavior-change programs by use of population segmentation and tailored interventions.