Why do delayed summaries improve metacomprehension accuracy?

We showed that metacomprehension accuracy improved when participants (N = 87 college students) wrote summaries of texts prior to judging their comprehension; however, accuracy only improved when summaries were written after a delay, not when written immediately after reading. We evaluated two hypotheses proposed to account for this delayed-summarization effect (the accessibility hypothesis and the situation model hypothesis). The data suggest that participants based metacomprehension judgments more on the gist of texts when they generated summaries after a delay; whereas, they based judgments more on details when they generated summaries immediately after reading. Focusing on information relevant to the situation model of a text (the gist of a text) produced higher levels of metacomprehension accuracy, which is consistent with situation model hypothesis.     

A BASIC program for computing Cronbach’s accuracy components

Accuracy is a measure of the extent of agreement between a rater’s ratings and the ratings of experts or the responses of ratees. Cronbach (1955) argued that accuracy research should focus on components of accuracy rather than on an overall measure. However, complex calculations are required to compute Cronbach’s accuracy components. A program is presented that provides a convenient way of computing all four components of accuracy (elevation, differential elevation, stereotype accuracy, and differential accuracy), as well as the associated correlation components, on an Apple Macintosh computer. The standard Macintosh interface is used to obtain all necessary information. The program will read data in a standard text file and will run faster on computers with math coprocessors.     

Witnesses’ memories for lineup fillers postdicts their identification accuracy

Witnesses who have quick, automatic recognition experiences when viewing a lineup tend to make more accurate decisions than witnesses who engage in slower, more deliberative processes. A novel postdictor of identification accuracy is predicted from these findings: memories for lineup fillers should be stronger among inaccurate, rather than accurate, witnesses. Undergraduate students (N = 320) viewed a mock crime, made a lineup identification decision, and were given a surprise test for their memory for the lineup fillers. Consistent with predictions, better memories for lineup fillers postdicted mistaken identifications and the suspect's innocence. Information gain analyses showed that under some conditions, memory for lineup fillers provided as much information about the suspect's guilt as a lineup identification. Findings are consistent with the idea that postdictors of eyewitness accuracy are valuable to the extent that they measure the automaticity or deliberativeness of the witness's experience when viewing the lineup.     

Where am I looking? The accuracy of video-mediated gaze awareness

Participants worked in pairs, with one person gazing at a flat horizontal stimulus between them. The other participant estimated where the gazer was looking. Experiment 1 used linear scales as gaze targets. The mean root mean square error of estimation equates to 3.8 degrees of head-and-eye pan and 2.6 degrees of tilt. This small error of estimation was essentially the same in a video-mediated condition and in one in which a procedure that did not allow the estimator to see the head-and-eye movement to the target position was used. Experiment 2 obtained comparable gaze estimation performance in face-to-face and video-mediated conditions, using a combined pan-and-tilt grid. It is concluded that people are very good at estimating what someone else is looking at and that such estimations should be practical during video-mediated conversation.     

Gender differences in empathic accuracy: Differential ability or differential motivation?

Following their qualitative review of the findings from 10 relevant studies, Graham and Ickes (1997) speculated that reliable gender‐of‐perceiver differences in empathic accuracy (a) were limited to studies in which the empathic inference form made empathic accuracy salient as the dimension of interest, and (b) therefore reflected the differential motivation, rather than the differential ability, of female versus male perceivers. These speculations were tested more rigorously in the present study, which examined a larger set of 15 empathic accuracy studies and applied the techniques of quantitative meta‐analysis to test Graham and Ickes’(1997) moderating variable hypothesis. The hypothesis was strongly supported, consistent with a motivational interpretation previously proposed by Berman (1980) and by Eisenberg and Lemon (1983), which argues that reliable gender differences in empathy‐related measures are found only in situations in which (a) subjects are aware that they are being evaluated on an empathy‐relevant dimension, and/or (b) empathy‐relevant gender‐role expectations or obligations are made salient.     

Cross-modal interaction between vision and hearing: A speed—accuracy analysis

Cross-modal facilitation of response time (RT) is said to occur in a selective attention task when the introduction of an irrelevant sound increases the speed at which visual stimuli are detected and identified. To investigate the source of the facilitation in RT, we asked participants to rapidly identify the color of lights in the quiet and when accompanied by a pulse of noise. The resulting measures of accuracy and RT were used to derive speed-accuracy trade-off functions (SATFs) separately for the noise and the no-noise conditions. The two resulting SATFs have similar slopes and intercepts and, thus, can be treated as overlapping segments of a single function. That speeded identification of color with and without the presence of noise can be described by one SATF suggests, in turn, that cross-modal facilitation of RT represents a change in decision criterion induced by the auditory stimulus. Analogous changes in decision criteria might also underlie other measures of cross-modal interactions, such as auditory enhancement of brightness judgments.     

Do humans produce the speed–accuracy trade-off that maximizes reward rate?

In this paper we investigate trade-offs between speed and accuracy that are produced by humans when confronted with a sequence of choices between two alternatives. We assume that the choice process is described by the drift diffusion model, in which the speed–accuracy trade-off is primarily controlled by the value of the decision threshold. We test the hypothesis that participants choose the decision threshold that maximizes reward rate, defined as an average number of rewards per unit of time. In particular, we test four predictions derived on the basis of this hypothesis in two behavioural experiments. The data from all participants of our experiments provide support only for some of the predictions, and on average the participants are slower and more accurate than predicted by reward rate maximization. However, when we limit our analysis to subgroups of 30–50% of participants who earned the highest overall rewards, all the predictions are satisfied by the data. This suggests that a substantial subset of participants do select decision thresholds that maximize reward rate. We also discuss possible reasons why the remaining participants select thresholds higher than optimal, including the possibility that participants optimize a combination of reward rate and accuracy or that they compensate for the influence of timing uncertainty, or both.     

Can test list context manipulations improve recognition accuracy in the DRM paradigm?

Only test-based manipulations can be used to help people distinguish accurate from false memories once events have been encoded. In two experiments we examined how the type of studied words (weak vs strong associates, or less vs more memorable associates) and nonstudied lure words (related vs unrelated lures) on the test list affect recognition accuracy in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. False recognition of critical lures decreased substantially in the related-lure context, but so did correct recognition of studied words. False recognition was little affected by the studied-word manipulations. In general, participants claimed to recognise critical lures as often as weak associates or less memorable studied words but less often than either strong associates or more memorable studied words. The test-list context affected how participants classified their recognition experiences but it did not systematically change their overall memory accuracy.     

Can treatment for pure alexia improve letter-by-letter reading speed without sacrificing accuracy?

An experimental treatment study designed to improve both the accuracy and the speed of reading was administered to a patient with pure alexia and impaired letter naming. The study focused on the use of letter-by-letter reading. A two-stage approach was employed. The first stage implemented a tactile-kinesthetic strategy to improve accuracy. The second stage concentrated on speed. At the end of the treatment, patient DL was reading both trained and untrained words more accurately and with considerably greater speed than prior to treatment. Accuracy and speed of reading at the sentence level improved as well.     

The time course of task switching: A speed—accuracy trade-off analysis

On each trial of this study, participants either switched between or repeated two simple, two-choice tasks involving either letter or digit classifications. Speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) curves were obtained using the responsesignal method of eliciting speeded responses at various response time lags after the presentation of the stimulus for the second task. The key finding from separate analyses of the three SAT-curve parameters (intercept, rate, and asymp tote) was that the location of the intercept of the SAT function (i.e., the point at which responding rises above chance) was shifted upward for both short and long response-stimulus intervals under task-switch conditions but only when the responses associated with each of the letter-digit stimulus components were incompatible.     

Can test list context manipulations improve recognition accuracy in the DRM paradigm?

Only test-based manipulations can be used to help people distinguish accurate from false memories once events have been encoded. In two experiments we examined how the type of studied words (weak vs strong associates, or less vs more memorable associates) and nonstudied lure words (related vs unrelated lures) on the test list affect recognition accuracy in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. False recognition of critical lures decreased substantially in the related-lure context, but so did correct recognition of studied words. False recognition was little affected by the studied-word manipulations. In general, participants claimed to recognise critical lures as often as weak associates or less memorable studied words but less often than either strong associates or more memorable studied words. The test-list context affected how participants classified their recognition experiences but it did not systematically change their overall memory accuracy.     

Aging and monitoring associative learning: is monitoring accuracy spared or impaired?

Mixed lists of associatively related and unrelated paired associates were used to study monitoring of associative learning. Older and younger adults produced above-chance levels of relative accuracy, as measured by intraindividual correlations (gamma) of judgments of learning (JOLs) with item recall. JOLs were strongly influenced by relatedness, and this effect was greater for older adults. Relative accuracy was higher for unrelated than for related pairs. Correlations of JOLs with item recall for a randomly yoked learner indicated that access to one's own encoding experiences increased relative accuracy. Both age groups manifested a contrast effect (lower JOLs for unrelated items when mixed with related items). Aging appears to spare monitoring of encoding, even though it adversely affects associative learning.     

Empathic accuracy in coach–athlete dyads who participate in team and individual sports

ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the empathic accuracy of coach–athlete dyads participating in team and individual sports.MethodAn adaptation of Ickes's [2001. Measuring empathic accuracy. In J. A. Hall & F. J. Bernieri (Eds.), Interpersonal sensitivity (pp. 219–242). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates] unstructured dyadic interaction paradigm was used to assess the empathic accuracy of 40 coach–athlete dyads. Accordingly, each dyad was filmed during a training session. The dyad members viewed selected video footage that displayed discrete interactions that had naturally occurred during that session. Dyad members reported what they remembered thinking/feeling while making inferences about what their partner's thought/felt at each point. Empathic accuracy was estimated by comparing self-reports and inferences.ResultsThe results indicted that accuracy for coaches in individual sports was higher than coaches in team sports. Shared cognitive focus also differed between team and individual sports, and fully mediated the effect of sport-type on coach empathic accuracy. Moreover, coaches whose training sessions were longer demonstrated increased empathic accuracy. No differences were found for athletes.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the dynamics of the interaction between a coach and an athlete play a key role in how accurately they perceive each other.     

Investigating the speed–accuracy trade-off: Better use deadlines or response signals?

Deadlines (DLs) and response signals (RSs) are two well-established techniques for investigating speed–accuracy trade-offs (SATs). Methodological differences imply, however, that corresponding data do not necessarily reflect equivalent processes. Specifically, the DL procedure grants knowledge about trial-specific time demands and requires responses before a prespecified period has elapsed. In contrast, RS intervals often vary unpredictably between trials, and responses must be given after an explicit signal. Here, we investigated the effects of these differences in a flanker task. While all conditions yielded robust SAT functions, a right-shift of the curves pointed to reduced performance in RS conditions (Experiment 1, blocked; Experiments 2 and 3, randomized), as compared with DL conditions (Experiments 1–3, blocked), indicating that the detection of the RS imposes additional task demands. Moreover, the flanker effect vanished at long intervals in RS settings, suggesting that stimulus-related effects are absorbed in a slack when decisions are completed prior to the signal. In turn, effects of a flat (Experiment 2) versus a performance-contingent payment (Experiment 3) indicated that susceptibility to response strategies is higher in the DL than in the RS method. Finally, the RS procedure led to a broad range of slow responses and high accuracies, whereas DL conditions resulted in smaller variations in the upper data range (Experiments 1 and 2); with performance-contingent payment (Experiment 3), though, data ranges became similar. Together, the results uncover characteristic procedure-related effects and should help in selection of the appropriate technique.     

What did I eat yesterday? Determinants of accuracy in 24-hour food memories

Large-scale diet-related epidemiological work relies on the quality of self-reported food consumption. As this epidemiological work forms the basis of knowledge of the relationship of diet to disease, it is essential that the self-reports of personal diet are understood. It is generally accepted that foods consumed are under-reported, even over as short a period as 24 hours. However, little is known about the potential systematic biases that may affect the quality of self-reported food intake. The current study examines the accuracy of memories of the consumption of snack foods eaten in the previous 24 hours and investigates factors that may bias these memories. All participants had previously participated in a randomized intervention trial to lower dietary fat intake to 20 per cent of calories. Fifty-six women (intervention and control) tasted eight snack foods in a laboratory setting. They were telephoned a day later and asked to recall the type of snack foods (M&Ms, pretzels, etc.) and the quantity of each food they consumed. Subjects in general under-reported the number of selections and the quantity of each item consumed. Women who accurately recalled an item, reported more liking for that item compared to those who forgot the item. Women currently maintaining a low-fat diet were less accurate in their recall of low-fat items than women on a high-fat diet. Low-fat eaters, however, may be slightly better at recalling how much of certain foods they consumed. Results have implications for survey research and understanding the psychological influences on reports of food consumption used in large-scale diet studies.     

Decrement in the horizontal-vertical illusion: are subjects aware of their increased accuracy?

47 subjects adjusted the extended vertical lines of 20 inverted-T figures to make them appear equal to a horizontal line and rated the confidence in their accuracy after each trial. One group viewed figures of varying sizes, a second group viewed figures of standard size, and a third group viewed figures of standard size but received feedback on their accuracy immediately after completing Trial 5. Except for a significant increase in accuracy on Trial 6 for the Feedback Group, there were no differences in performance among groups. Subjects made the vertical line significantly shorter than the horizontal line on initial trials but their accuracy improved over trials. In contrast, there was no consistent increase in confidence, and several analyses indicated that confidence ratings were unrelated to accuracy. These results suggest that the subjects were unaware of the decrement in illusion that occurred over trials.