Stochastic independence in the recognition/identification paradigm

Abstract

Experiments in which subjects study a set of items and then take two successive tests, a recognition test followed by a test of implicit retrieval of the same items (e.g. Tulving, Schacter, & Stark, 1982), have typically yielded data showing stochastic independence between the tests. Ostergaard (1992) has suggested that the procedure for assessing such independence should include an evaluation of the data against a model that assumes maximal dependence between the components of the test attributable to the study episode. In applying his Maximum Memory Dependence model to the published data, however, Ostergaard inexplicably used test-primed data for baseline measures, rather than non-primed data, and erroneously concluded that there was no clear evidence for independence. In this article, we show that when the standard baseline measures are used, the results of many experiments demonstrate stochastic independence.     

Individualism,causal powers,and explanation

Versions of this paper were presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology in June 1991, at Cornell University in October 1991, and at Queen's University in January 1992; I thank Terence Horgan and Carl Ginet, respectively, for their comments on the first two of these occasions. I would also like to thank Terence Irwin, Sydney Shoemaker, Bob Stalnaker, Ed Stein, and J. D. Trout for comments on earlier versions of the paper, and Joe Moore, Dave Robb and Sergio Sismondo for useful discussion.     

A causal ontology of objects,causal relations,and various kinds of action

Synthese - The explanatory/pragmatic-trial distinction enjoys a burgeoning philosophical and medical literature and a significant contingent of support among philosophers and healthcare...     

Imaging,empathy, and causal attribution

Three studies were conducted to test whether imagery accounts for the effects of empathy on attributions, that is, whether attributers construct and scan a mental image of social scenarios the same way that actual participants scan a real environment. According to this interpretation, attributers “see” the world as the participant does and make vicarious attributions. An alternative interpretation holds that subjects base vicarious attributions on recreating the motivations and affect of the actor, so that imaging is irrelevant to empathy and attributions. In the first study, subjects who imagined a story from the perspective of a particular character later showed differential recall of story details as a function of role, but not differential attributions. In Experiment 2, role-taking subjects showed clear effects of imaged perspective on recall for story details, but no effects on attributions of causality for an accident. Further, recall and attribution were uncorrelated. In the last study, empathy and imagery role-taking instructions produced independent effects: imagers showed pronounced perspective-relevant recall and empathizers did not. Neither showed unambiguous vicarious attributions. Recall and attribution were again uncorrelated. These studies suggest that the imagery explanation of empathy effects is untenable, and imply that the recall of perspective-relevant details is unlikely to mediate attributions of causality in imaginary scenarios.     

Materialism, status consumption, and consumer independence

Materialism influences many people. We focus on two aspects of this influence: reactions to prestige products and to the influence of others. A study of 187 U.S. student consumers shows that materialism is positively related to buying products that confer status. In contrast, materialism is negatively related to consumer independence, an enduring tendency to pay minimal attention to the prescribed norms of other consumers and to make product and brand decisions according to personal preferences. Consuming products for status is also negatively related to consumer independence. Moreover, the association between materialism and consumer independence is completely mediated by consuming for status. Materialism urges consumers to be status conscious so that they follow social norms in purchasing, but seeking status through goods is avoided by less materialistic, independent consumers. A second study (n = 258) also using student consumers confirmed these results.     

Field independence, academic orientation, and achievement

The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) of field independence was administered to 203 Jamaican sixth form (pre-university) students pursuing advanced-level (A-level) courses with either an arts or a science emphasis. The science-emphasis group obtained significantly higher scores on the GEFT than the arts-emphasis group. In addition, field independence was found to be important for the A-level success of students, regardless of whether they pursued arts- or science-emphasis courses. The implication of this finding to education at advanced level is discussed.     

Field independence, lateralization and defensive style

This study investigated the relationship between field independence and defense clustering as measured by the Defense Mechanisms Inventory and lateral eye movements. Subjects had previously been classified either as hysterical or obsessive style by the Rorschach and WAIS Comprehension subtest. Previous findings indicate that these subjects have a preferred direction of lateral eye movement in a questioning format (hysterical style = left; obsessive style = right). This study found no relationship between field independence and defense clustering and lateral eye movements. To the extent that eye gaze indexes hemispheric activation, we conclude that neither field independence nor defense clustering was related to hemispheric lateralization.     

Causation,causal perception,and conservation laws

We investigated the perception of causation via the ability to detect conservation violations in simple events. We showed that observers were sensitive to energy conservation violations in free-fall events. Furthermore, observers were sensitive to gradually perturbed energy dynamics in such events. However, they were more sensitive to the effect of decreasing gravity than to that of increasing gravity. Displays with decreasing gravity were the only displays in which the energy profile was dominated by (apparent) potential energy, leading to an asymmetric trajectory.     

Dependence, independence, and emergence of word features

The degree to which a letter is perceived to be an e rather than a c is a function of the central, horizontal bar, which can be made to be more or less present in any given stimulus. By this means, word-form stimuli were produced through the independent, continuous manipulation of e versus c and of r versus h in two word frames (wat-- and --ase) yielding stimuli that ranged between water and watch in the former instance and between erase and chase in the latter. The identification probabilities for these stimuli were well accounted for in each case by a version of a fuzzy propositional model that is based on the assumption of independent features, indicating that the manipulated features within each word frame were not perceptually interdependent. However, the probabilities differed systematically between the two stimulus matrices; this means that there must be some other kind of higher order effect involved in identification. The hypothesis that the interaction was due to an emergent word envelope feature was rejected on the basis of the model analysis.     

Sets of probability distributions, independence, and convexity

This paper analyzes concepts of independence and assumptions of convexity in the theory of sets of probability distributions. The starting point is Kyburg and Pittarelli??s discussion of ??convex Bayesianism?? (in particular their proposals concerning E-admissibility, independence, and convexity). The paper offers an organized review of the literature on independence for sets of probability distributions; new results on graphoid properties and on the justification of ??strong independence?? (using exchangeability) are presented. Finally, the connection between Kyburg and Pittarelli??s results and recent developments on the axiomatization of non-binary preferences, and its impact on ??complete?? independence, are described.     

Intolerance of uncertainty,causal uncertainty,causal importance,self-concept clarity and their relations to generalized anxiety disorder

Although numerous studies have provided support for the notion that intolerance of uncertainty plays a key role in pathological worry (the hallmark feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)), other uncertainty-related constructs may also have relevance for the understanding of individuals who engage in pathological worry. Three constructs from the social cognition literature, causal uncertainty, causal importance, and self-concept clarity, were examined in the present study to assess the degree to which these explain unique variance in GAD, over and above intolerance of uncertainty. N = 235 participants completed self-report measures of trait worry, GAD symptoms, and uncertainty-relevant constructs. A subgroup was subsequently classified as low in GAD symptoms (n = 69) or high in GAD symptoms (n = 54) based on validated cut scores on measures of trait worry and GAD symptoms. In logistic regressions, only elevated intolerance of uncertainty and lower self-concept clarity emerged as unique correlates of high (vs. low) GAD symptoms. The possible role of self-concept uncertainty in GAD and the utility of integrating social cognition theories and constructs into clinical research on intolerance of uncertainty are discussed.     

Learning,prediction and causal Bayes nets

Recent research in cognitive and developmental psychology on acquiring and using causal knowledge uses the causal Bayes net formalism, which simultaneously represents hypotheses about causal relations, probability relations, and effects of interventions. The formalism provides new normative standards for reinterpreting experiments on human judgment, offers a precise interpretation of mechanisms, and allows generalizations of existing theories of causal learning. Combined with hypotheses about learning algorithms, the formalism makes predictions about inferences in many experimental designs beyond the classical, Pavlovian cue-->effect design.