Some consequences of stereoscopic depth constancy

Retinal disparity decreases in proportion to the square of the distance of the corresponding objective depth interval from the eyes. Up to a distance of 2 m, stereoscopic depth perception compensates well for this decrease in disparity with observation distance; for a given disparity, experienced depth increases approximately in proportion to the square of the observation distance. When disparities are artificially produced, by anaglyphs or vectograms, or by spectacles, they decrease only in proportion to the first power of the observation distance. The same is true when the Pulfrich effect gives rise to equivalents of disparity. Depth perception, however, compensates for the normal disparity loss. As a result, there should be a net gain in perceived depth approximately in proportion to the first power of observation distance. When perceived depth caused by horizontal magnification in one eye or by the Pulfrich effect was measured, it was found to increase approximately in proportion to observation distance.     

Pre‐school children's understanding of the emotional consequences for failures to act prosocially

This study compares 4‐ and 5‐year‐old children's assessment of the emotional consequences of failures to act prosocially with their assessment of the emotional consequences for prosocial and victimization situations. After listening to stories illustrating each of the socio‐moral situations, children rated the emotional consequences for an actor, recipient and observing teacher and justified their ratings. Findings show that pre‐school children's emotion ratings for failures to act prosocially differed from their emotion ratings for prosocial and victimization behaviours. Preschool children's ratings of an actor's emotions depended on the presence or absence of an observing teacher in prosocial and victimization situations, but not in failures to act prosocially. This study illustrates the complexity of young children's reasoning about failures to act prosocially and highlights the importance of contextual influences on children's understanding of socio‐moral emotions.     

Some sources and consequences of career exploration

The present research investigated (a) factors that may influence participation in career exploration, and (b) the role of anxiety in the exploration process. The sample consisted of 161 undergraduate college students. Work-role salience (the importance of work in a person's life) was positively related to participation in self-related and work-related exploration. Self-related exploration was positively related to satisfaction with the occupational decision of low anxiety students and was negatively related to satisfaction among high anxiety students. Furthermore, dissatisfaction with an occupational decision was more likely to stimulate future work-related exploration for low anxiety students than for highly anxious students. The implications of these findings for the career exploration process were discussed.     

Some attitudinal and cognitive consequences of thought

A “reinterpretation of inconsistent cognitions” explanation of the previous finding that thought about an object tends to polarize attitudes toward that object was tested. Under the assumption that ambiguity facilitates reinterpretation, ambiguity of inconsistent information and opportunity for thought were manipulated. Consistent with expectations, (a) thought resulted in attitude polarization and this effect was increased with ambiguity (p < .01) and (b) evaluation (interpretation) of the inconsistent information varied as a function of thought (p < .05) and ambiguity (p < .01).     

Illusory recollection of voices

We investigated source misattributions in the DRM false memory paradigm (Deese, 1959, Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Subjects studied words in one of two voices, manipulated between‐lists (pure‐voice lists) or within‐list (mixed‐voice lists), and were subsequently given a recognition test with voice‐attribution judgements. Experiments 1 and 2 used visual tests. With pure‐voice lists (Experiment 1), subjects frequently attributed related lures to the corresponding study voice, despite having the option to not respond. Further, these erroneous attributions remained high with mixed‐voice lists (Experiment 2). Thus, even when their related lists were not associated with a particular voice, subjects misattributed the lures to one of the voices. Attributions for studied items were fairly accurate in both cases. Experiments 3 and 4 used auditory tests. With pure‐voice lists (Experiment 3), subjects frequently attributed related lures and studied items to the corresponding study voice, regardless of the test voice. In contrast, with mixed‐voice lists (Experiment 4), subjects frequently attributed related lures and studied items to the corresponding test voice, regardless of the study voice. These findings indicate that source attributions can be sensitive to voice information provided either at study or at test, even though this information is irrelevant for related lures.     

Illusory recollection of voices

We investigated source misattributions in the DRM false memory paradigm (Deese, 1959, Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Subjects studied words in one of two voices, manipulated between-lists (pure-voice lists) or within-list (mixed-voice lists), and were subsequently given a recognition test with voice-attribution judgements. Experiments 1 and 2 used visual tests. With pure-voice lists (Experiment 1), subjects frequently attributed related lures to the corresponding study voice, despite having the option to not respond. Further, these erroneous attributions remained high with mixed-voice lists (Experiment 2). Thus, even when their related lists were not associated with a particular voice, subjects misattributed the lures to one of the voices. Attributions for studied items were fairly accurate in both cases. Experiments 3 and 4 used auditory tests. With pure-voice lists (Experiment 3), subjects frequently attributed related lures and studied items to the corresponding study voice, regardless of the test voice. In contrast, with mixed-voice lists (Experiment 4), subjects frequently attributed related lures and studied items to the corresponding test voice, regardless of the study voice. These findings indicate that source attributions can be sensitive to voice information provided either at study or at test, even though this information is irrelevant for related lures.     

Some situational determinants of the motives attributed to the person who performs a helping act

Two studies were directed at the assessment of donor motives for and appropriateness and evaluation of an unsolicited helping act directed at a high versus a low power person by self or other Results of the first study demonstrated no differences between self and other, but highly significant differences between high and low power on all three dependent measures, with an act directed at a high power person being seen as more self-seeking and being more negatively evaluated. A manipulation of liking for other in the second study resulted in significant differences between self and a disliked other on all three measures, with more negative attributions and evaluations of die disliked other As predicted, there were no differences between self and a liked other Power differences remained significant over all conditions of self and other Results were considered not to be attributable to trans-situational need states of the low power person, however, the act was consistently viewed as more appropriate when directed at a low power person.     

Some consequences of visualization in pattern identification and detection

The goal of this study was to establish some of the conditions under which mental imagery facilitates or interferes with the identification and detection of visual patterns. In Experiment 1, subjects identified simple bar patterns presented at orientations 90 degrees apart under normal viewing conditions. Their reaction times were shorter when they had imagined seeing the patterns in advance at the same orientation, but were longer when they had imagined seeing the patterns at orientations that were in-between those of the actual presented patterns, relative to baseline conditions in which they were instructed not to imagine the patterns. In Experiment 2, where the subjects had only to detect the target patterns without identifying them, there was no effect of image formation or image-target alignment. In Experiment 3, where the detection task was repeated but where the target exposure duration was reduced, imagery significantly interfered with detection. In contrast to the results of Experiment 1, reaction time and error rate in this case were greatest when the imagined patterns were perfectly aligned with the target patterns. These findings demonstrate that whether imagery facilitates or interferes with performance on a visual task depends on the nature and difficulty of the task and on how closely the imagined and presented patterns correspond.     

Some consequences of conceiving society as a large group

There is today a convergence between politics and therapy, and disillusion with both. As awareness of boundaries increases, the question of how to both comprehend society and manage oneself becomes acute. We need always to connect the socio- with the psycho-. Study of the large group offers one such means. Life in the large group matches that in society and individual experience. The two basic defenses found in the large group (polarizing and institutionalizing) need not necessarily be defenses. They indicate another connection, namely, to the family. The family may be regarded as the place where we first learn about projections and have our first experience of an institution. The large group links individual, society, and family, especially when we see that the dynamics of the large group and the very small group (family sized) are congruent. Study of the large group is especially important for those whose primary work is with individuals. It may be confusing and exasperating, but that way lies learning.He has written a number of books on theology and pastoral practice employing the basic conceptual framework which underlies the group relations studies of the Tavistock Institute and the A. K. Rice Institute. He has extensive experience in such work. With E. R. Shapiro he has recently published a wider study of the application of such thinking to individuals, groups and society:Lost in Familiar Places: Creating New Connections Between the Individual and Society.     

Distinguishing between the success and precision of recollection

Recollection reflects the retrieval of complex qualitative information about prior events. Recently, Harlow and Donaldson developed a method for separating the probability of recollection success from the precision of the mnemonic information retrieved. In the current study, we ask if these properties are separable on the basis of subjective reports—are participants aware of these two aspects of recollection and can they reliably report on them? Participants studied words paired with a location on a circle outline, and at test recalled the location for a given word as accurately as possible. Additionally, participants provided separate subjective ratings of recollection confidence and recollection precision. The results indicated that participants either recollected the target location with considerable (but variable) precision or retrieved no accurate location information at all. Importantly, recollection confidence reliably predicted whether locations were recollected, while precision ratings instead reflected the precision of the locations retrieved. The results demonstrate the experimental separability of recollection success and precision, and highlight the importance of disentangling these two different aspects of recollection when examining episodic memory.     

When dyads act in parallel,a sense of agency for the auditory consequences depends on the order of the actions

The sense of agency (SA) is the perception of willfully causing something to happen. Wegner and Wheatley (1999) proposed three prerequisites for SA: temporal contiguity between an action and its effect, congruence between predicted and observed effects, and exclusivity (absence of competing causal explanations). We investigated how temporal contiguity, congruence, and the order of two human agents’ actions influenced SA on a task where participants rated feelings of self-agency for producing a tone. SA decreased when tone onsets were delayed, supporting contiguity as important, but the order of the agents’ actions (lead, follow, or simultaneous) also mattered. Relative contiguity was the main determinant of SA, as delayed tones were usually attributed to the most recent action. This was unaffected by contingencies between the two actors’ actions (Experiment 2), showing that contiguity has a powerful influence on SA, even during joint action in the presence of other cues.     

Some consequences ofThe New Rhetoric: A critical study

This review article examines some aspects of the legacy of Perelman'sThe New Rhetoric as reflected in two volumes of his collected essays in the new edition of his Works as well as in a memorial volume edited by Michel Meyer and the acts of a colloquium sponsored by Meyer's Center for Argumentation.     

Exploring the basis and boundary conditions of SenseCam-facilitated recollection

SenseCam review has been shown to promote and sustain subsequent access to memories that might otherwise remain inaccessible. While SenseCam review facilitates recollection for personally experienced events, we know little about the boundary conditions under which this operates and about how underlying processing mechanisms can be optimally recruited to offset memory impairments of the sort that occur in dementia. This paper considers some of these issues with a view to targeting future research that not only clarifies our evolving body of theory about how memory works, but also informs about how memory-assistive technologies for patients might be employed to maximal effect. We begin by outlining key factors that are known to influence recollection. We then examine variability in the decline of memory function both in normal ageing and in dementia. Attention is drawn to similarities in the recollection deficits associated with depression and dementia, and we suggest that this may reflect shared underlying mechanisms. We conclude by discussing how one particular theoretical rationale can be intersected with key SenseCam capabilities to define priorities for ongoing and future SenseCam research.     

Belief and recollection of autobiographical memories

In three experiments, undergraduates rated autobiographical memories on scales derived from existing theories of memory. In multiple regression analyses, ratings of the degree to which subjects recollected (i.e., relived) their memories were predicted by visual imagery, auditory imagery, and emotions, whereas ratings of belief in the accuracy of their memories were predicted by knowledge of the setting. Recollection was predicted equally well in between- and within-subjects analyses, but belief consistently had smaller correlations and multiple regression predictions between subjects; individual differences in the cognitive scales that we measured could not account well for individual differences in belief. In contrast, measures of mood (Beck Depression Index) and dissociation (Dissociative Experience Scale) added predictive value for belief, but not for recollection. We also found that highly relived memories almost always had strong visual images and that remember/know judgments made on autobiographical memories were more closely related to belief than to recollection.