Some effort for some: Further evidence that scalar implicatures are effortful

Under the assumption of the principle of cooperation (Grice, 1989), a statement such as “some eels are fish” is thought to be false since it contains less information than is considered sufficient. However, the statement is logically sound since the meaning of “some” is compatible with “all”. Currently, the primary interpretation of such underinformative statements remains subject to debate. According to Levinson (2000 Levinson, S. 2000. Presumptive meanings: The theory of generalised conversational implicature, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.  [Google Scholar]), the pragmatic “some but not all” interpretation is the default interpretation, while others (e.g., Sperber & Wilson, 1995) argue that this pragmatic interpretation only comes to the fore when relevant within the context and is thus considered secondary to the logical “some and perhaps all” interpretation. In this study, three factors that may influence the answer pattern are studied: task load, working memory capacity, and repetition of the statements. In Experiment 1, we used a secondary task paradigm to manipulate the cognitive load under which a number of underinformative statements had to be judged. We observed that for participants with a rather limited working memory span it is harder to reach a pragmatic interpretation under cognitive load. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the repetition of the statements. We observed that with a higher number of filler statements, participants produced fewer consistent answer patterns. This study provides further evidence against the automaticity of the pragmatic interpretation: It shows that the pragmatic interpretation requires more cognitive effort than the logical interpretation and that increasing the number of filler statements inhibits the development of a response strategy.     

Temporal reproduction: further evidence for two processes

Some authors have suggested separate mechanisms for the processing of temporal intervals above versus below 2-3s. Given that the evidence is mixed, the present experiment was carried out as a critical test of the separate-mechanism hypothesis. Subjects reproduced five standard durations of 1-5s presented in the auditory and visual modalities. The Corsi-block test was used to assess effects of working-memory span on different interval lengths. Greater working-memory span was associated with longer reproductions of intervals of 3-5s. A factor analysis run on mean reproduced intervals revealed one modality-unspecific factor for durations of 1-2s and two modality-specific factors for longer intervals. These results are interpreted as further indications that two different processes underlie temporal reproductions of shorter and longer intervals.     

Animates are better remembered than inanimates: further evidence from word and picture stimuli

In three experiments, we showed that animate entities are remembered better than inanimate entities. Experiment 1 revealed better recall for words denoting animate than inanimate items. Experiment 2 replicated this finding with the use of pictures. In Experiment 3, we found better recognition for animate than for inanimate words. Importantly, we also found a higher recall rate of “remember” than of “know” responses for animates, whereas the recall rates were similar for the two types of responses for inanimate items. This finding suggests that animacy enhances not only the quantity but also the quality of memory traces, through the recall of contextual details of previous experiences (i.e., episodic memory). Finally, in Experiment 4, we tested whether the animacy effect was due to animate items being richer in terms of sensory features than inanimate items. The findings provide further evidence for the functionalist view of memory championed by Nairne and coworkers (Nairne, 2010; Nairne & Pandeirada, Cognitive Psychology, 61:1–22, 2010a, 2010b).     

Visually-presented letter strings typically are encoded phonologically: some converging evidence

Three experiments were conducted to show that phonological encoding is typical for visually-presented letter strings, and that an interactive activation model with a phonological route to the mental lexicon accounts adequately for the word-superiority effect. In Experiment 1, pseudohomophones produced a word-superiority effect that was as great as that produced by words. More accurate target discrimination in homophones than in nonhomophones in Experiment 2 was interpreted to mean that excitability of entries in the mental lexicon increases with frequency of access. Target discrimination accuracy was inversely related to the phonological complexity of strings containing targets in Experiment 3, supposedly because lexical access through which target discrimination is enhanced becomes more difficult as phonological complexity increases.     

Remembering kinds: new evidence that categories are privileged in children's thinking

What are the representations and learning mechanisms that underlie conceptual development? The present research provides evidence in favor of the claim that this process is guided by an early-emerging predisposition to think and learn about abstract kinds. Specifically, three studies (N = 192) demonstrated that 4- to 7-year-old children have better recall for novel information about kinds (e.g., that dogs catch a bug called “fep”) than for similar information about individuals (e.g., that a particular dog catches a bug called “fep”). By showing that children are particularly likely to retain information about kinds, this work not only provides a first empirical demonstration of a phenomenon that may be key to conceptual development but also makes it apparent that young children’s thinking is suffused with abstractions rather than being perceptually-based and concrete.     

The Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale: further evidence for multidimensionality

The Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale has been conceptualized as multidimensional. Three of the six theoretical dimensions, Interpretation Anxiety, Test and Class Anxiety, and Fear of Asking for Help, tap anxiety about statistics; the other three dimensions, Worth of Statistics, Computation Self-concept, and Fear of Statistics Teachers, measure perceptions and attitudes toward statistics. This conceptualization of a second-order factor model consisting of two superordinate factors and six first-order factors has remained empirically untested. In 77 graduate students (15 men, 62 women; M age = 27.6 yr.) enrolled in applied statistics courses in Taiwan, a confirmatory factor analysis of two competing models based on subscale scores yielded results supporting the multidimensional construct validity of the scale. As multidimensionality was previously supported based on item scores, but not subscale scores, the findings are interpreted as partially consistent with previous research testing the theoretical factor structure of the scale.     

Switching attention between modalities: further evidence for visual dominance

The present study examined cross-modal selective attention using a task-switching paradigm. In a series of experiments, we presented lateralized visual and auditory stimuli simultaneously and asked participants to make a spatial decision according to either the visual or the auditory stimulus. We observed consistent cross-modal interference in the form of a spatial congruence effect. This effect was asymmetrical, with higher costs when responding to auditory than to visual stimuli. Furthermore, we found stimulus-modality-shift costs, indicating a persisting attentional bias towards the attended stimulus modality. We discuss our findings with respect to visual dominance, directed-attention accounts, and the modality-appropriateness hypothesis.     

Central intermittency: Some further observations

When the human subject is asked to respond to two stimuli separated by a very short time interval the response to the second stimulus may be relatively delayed. The present experiment is designed to test the hypothesis that the elements of the delay attributable to the sensory and motor components of the stimulus-response situation may be subserved by relatively independent neural mechanisms. The results obtained are compatible with this hypothesis and are briefly discussed.     

Prior source exposure and persuasion: further evidence for misattributional processes

To assess the persuasive impact of prior source exposure, two studies paired persuasive messages with a source to whom participants had previously been exposed subliminally, explicitly, or not at all. In Experiment 2, participants' attention also was drawn to information that potentially undermined the implications of any reaction to re-exposure. Compared to no exposure, prior subliminal exposure increased the source's persuasiveness, an effect not mediated by source liking. Explicit exposure increased source persuasiveness to the extent that the source was liked more and only absent a recall cue. Results favored misattributional accounts of prior exposure effects.     

Processing of form: further evidence for the necessity of attention

Using the materials and general procedure described by Rock and Gutman (1981), 160 subjects were required to attend selectively to a series of 10 red or green outlines of two overlapping contours. Immediately afterwards, six groups of 20 subjects were administered various kinds of recognition tests involving attended, unattended, or new figures, and two groups of 20 were asked to provide affect ratings of the test stimuli. Consistent with the findings of Rock and Gutman in 1981, attended outlines were selected as old more often than unattended or new ones. Although some data in a single-stimulus condition suggested that the unattended forms were "discriminated negatively," this effect was not replicated with forced-choice testing. Over-all, there was little evidence that, on unattended forms, subjects were significantly more accurate, differentially confident or displayed more liking than on new ones. These results are interpreted as supporting the view that attention is required for the cognitive representation of form.     

Adolescent attitudes toward designer jeans: further evidence

The classical conditioning theory of learning was used to predict the attitudes of junior high students toward spending for designer jeans. Two groups of junior high (mean age = 13.3 years) home economics students (N = 44) viewed and responded to four slides of designer or status jeans and four slides of nondesigner jeans. In addition, half the subjects were exposed to designer hangtags, and half were not. Thus, the design of the experiment was a mixed model two X two analysis of variance. In accord with recent research on designer jeans, it was predicted and found that junior high students were likely to say that in comparison to the nondesigner jeans, they would spend more for the designer jeans, select them more often as gifts, and purchase them more often for themselves. It also was found that the junior high students were more likely to say they would select a pair of jeans as a gift when the hangtags were present but were more likely to say they would purchase the jeans for themselves in the absence of the hangtags. There were no interactions. Classical conditioning theory is used to explain the results and to offer avenues for further research.     

Toward a further understanding of the intuitive personologist: Some preliminary evidence for the dialectical quality of subjective personality impressions

Despite significant advances over the past three decades in our understanding of the implicit personality theorist, some important questions remain, particularly as regards the nature of the underlying reasoning process by which subjectively meaningful personality impressions are formulated and expressed. The present article seeks to address this issue, with particular attention being given to the distinction between demonstrative and dialectical reasoning. Preliminary empirical evidence is offered to suggest that, at least under certain conditions, lay persons formulate and express subjective personality impressions on the basis of a reasoning process that is essentially dialectical in nature. Some major implications of this point of view for the study of the intuitive personologist are discussed. The limitations of the evidence presented, and the need for further research are also noted.     

Reasoning with premises that are not empirically true: evidence for the role of inhibition and retrieval

Two studies examined conditional reasoning with false premises. In Study 1, 12- and 16-year-old adolescents made "if-then" inferences after producing an alternative antecedent for the major premise. Older participants made more errors on the simple modus ponens inference than did younger ones. Reasoning with a false premise reduced this effect. Study 2 examined the relation between performance on a negative priming task (S. P. Tipper, 1985) and reasoning with contrary-to-fact premises in 9- and 11-year-olds. Overall, there was a correlation between the relative effect of negative priming on reaction times and the number of knowledge-based responses to the reasoning problems. The results of these studies are consistent with the idea that reasoning with premises that are not true requires an interaction between information retrieval and inhibition.