Recall of semantic domains

The order of recall of lists of words learned incidentally was analyzed by multidimensional scaling similarity matrices based on the number of times words were retrieved next to each other. For the semantic domains of mammals, birds, and kinship terms, retrieval from very long-term memory, both for groups and individuals, and recall of recently learned lists produced multidimensional solutions similar to published solutions based on judged relatedness and associative overlap. For the squares of the Monopoly board and the names of the members of the Lawrence University faculty, for which clear a priori category structures exist, the form of clustering in the order and timing of recall that is commonly found in recall of lists learned recently in the laboratory was also found in the retrieval of lists learned incidentally through multiple exposures over long periods of time in the real world.     

Reinforced variability and operant learning

Reinforcement of variability may help to explain operant learning. Three groups of rats were reinforced, in different phases, whenever the following target sequences of left (L) and right (R) lever presses occurred: LR, RLL, LLR, RRLR, RLLRL, and in Experiment 2, LLRRL. One group (variability [VAR]) was concurrently reinforced once per minute for sequence variations, a second group also once per minute but independently of variations, that is, for any sequences (ANY), and a control group (CON) received no additional reinforcers. The 3 groups learned the easiest targets equally. For the most difficult targets, CON animals' responding extinguished whereas both VAR and ANY responded at high rates. Only the VAR animals learned, however. Thus, concurrent reinforcers--contingent on variability or not--helped to maintain responding when difficult sequences were reinforced, but learning those sequences depended on reinforcement of variations.     

Individual differences in gains from computer-assisted remedial reading

Two hundred second- to fifth-grade students (aged approximately 7 to 11 years) spent 29 h in a computer-assisted remedial reading program that compared benefits from accurate, speech-supported reading in context, with and without explicit phonological training. Children in the "accurate-reading-in-context" condition spent 22 individualized computer hours reading stories and 7 small-group hours learning comprehension strategies. Children in the "phonological-analysis" condition learned phonological strategies in 7 small-group hours, and divided their computer time between phonological exercises and story reading. Phonologically trained children gained more in phonological skills and untimed word reading; children with more contextual reading gained more in time-limited word reading. Lower level readers gained more, and benefited more from phonological training, than higher level readers. In follow-up testing, most children maintained or improved their levels, but not their rates, of training gains. Phonologically trained children scored higher on phonological decoding, but children in both conditions scored equivalently on word reading.     

Sex Differences in Psychological Factors Associated with Social Discounting

The social discounting paradigm is a powerful means of quantifying altruism in humans, who are typically willing to forgo some amount of personal earnings in exchange for increased earnings for another person. The amount of money that people are willing to forgo decreases with increasing social distance. In this study, we examined variables related to sex, intolerance of uncertainty, and empathy, all of which are theorized to affect the social discounting rate. Participants (27 men and 28 women) completed measures of intolerance of uncertainty, empathy, and social discounting. We found sex differences in psychological predictors of social discounting: in women, empathy (but not intolerance of uncertainty) predicts the social discounting rate, while in men, social discounting is associated with intolerance of uncertainty (but not empathy). Possible neurobiological, social, and cognitive explanations for this sex difference are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive training programs for childhood cancer patients and survivors: A critical review and future directions

A robust literature has developed documenting neurocognitive late effects in survivors of leukemia and central nervous system (CNS) tumors, the most frequent cancer diagnoses of childhood. Patterns of late effects include deficits in attention and concentration, working memory, processing speed, and executive function, as well as other domains. As childhood cancer survivors are living longer, ameliorating deficits both in broad and specific neurocognitive domains has been increasingly recognized as an endeavor of paramount importance. Interventions to improve cognitive functioning were first applied to the field of pediatric oncology in the 1990s, based on strategies used effectively with adults who had sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Compilation and modification of these techniques has led to the development of structured cognitive training programs, with the effectiveness and feasibility of such interventions currently an active area of research. Consequently, the purpose of this critical review is to: (1) review cognitive training programs intended to remediate or prevent neurocognitive deficits in pediatric cancer patients and survivors, (2) critically analyze training program strengths and weaknesses to inform practice, and (3) provide recommendations for future directions of clinical care and research.     

Beliefs in Equality for Women and Men as Related to Economic Factors in Central and Eastern Europe and the United States

Do economic indicators predict the general level of support for gender equality? This question was investigated in a sample of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, a region that has been undergoing rapid economic changes since the early 1990s. In this overall sample of male and female college students from ten countries, including the United States as a comparison, the predicted association between stronger beliefs in gender role egalitarianism and positive economic factors was generally supported. Also, consistent with other research, women were more in support of gender equality than men were. There was no support for a predicted trend in less support for gender equality over the time period of the present study.     

Sacred Canopies or Religious Markets? The Effect of County-Level Religious Diversity on Later Changes in Religious Involvement

Secularization theories, such as Berger's Sacred Canopy argument, hold that religious diversity leads to a decline in religious participation. Religious market models (e.g., Finke and Stark) argue the opposite. Voas, Olson, and Crockett found that nearly all of the vast research exploring this important question prior to 2002 was flawed due to a previously unrecognized noncausal statistical relationship between measures of religious diversity and measures of religious participation. Since 2002, this methodological issue has largely stymied research on this important topic. We first describe how, following Voas et al.’s recommendations, longitudinal models can overcome these problems. We then apply these methods to data measuring the religious composition of all U.S. counties found in the Religious Congregations and Membership Studies from 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. Using multilevel longitudinal regression models, we find that greater county-level religious diversity is followed by later declines in county-level religious participation rates. The negative effect size of religious diversity is large and robust to changes in the control variables and different methods of measuring religious diversity.     

Conceptualizing Personal and Extrapersonal Associations

We recently introduced the term ‘extrapersonal associations’ and defined them as information that is available in memory but that does not contribute to one's attitudes toward a given object ( Olson & Fazio, 2004 ). Here, we review our conceptualization of the term, contrast it to our conceptualization of attitudes as personal associations, and briefly summarize evidence that the Implicit Association Test, as it is traditionally employed, is influenced by extrapersonal associations. We discuss recent critiques of the concept and in so doing, elaborate upon the essence of the personal versus extrapersonal distinction. We conclude with speculations on the nature of extrapersonal associations, their origins, and relationship to attitudes.