Stimulus control of predatory behavior by the Iberian wall lizard (Podarcis hispanica, Sauria, Lacertidae): effects of familiarity with prey

The authors examine the relative roles of vision and chemoreception and the influence of previous experience with prey on the predatory behavior of Iberian wall lizards (Podarcis hispanica). Experiment 1 compared the responses to visual, chemical, and a combination of visual and chemical cues of a familiar prey by 2 groups of lizards that had been kept in captivity for either 3 months or 21 days. Experiment 2 assessed the responses of lizards kept in the laboratory for more than 3 months to a novel prey species. The results reveal that feeding on a prey species affects the lizards' responses to chemical stimuli from that prey. The response to chemical cues of a novel prey requires a 1st-feeding experience with that prey. Lizards that have been fed the same prey species for several months cease responding to the chemical stimuli of that particular prey.     

Phenomenal characteristics of cryptomnesia

Qualitative characteristics of cryptomnesia, or unintentional plagiarism were investigated. In Experiment 1 we compared accurate and inaccurate source attributions in terms of their level of confidence using instructions that did not require a fixed number of responses. Confidence was lower for plagiarised responses than for correct responses. Nevertheless, participants provided high ratings of certainty for a large proportion of their plagiarised responses. In Experiment 2 the phenomenological differences between plagiarised recall and veridical recall were compared by using an adaptation of the memory characteristics questionnaire (Johnson, Foley, Suengas, & Raye, 1988). Correct responses were associated with more experiential detail than plagiarised responses. However, a considerable number of plagiarised responses were accompanied by a confident memory of at least one qualitative characteristic. Results are discussed in terms of the source monitoring framework developed by Johnson, Hashtroudi, and Lindsay (1993).     

The time-based word length effect and stimulus set specificity

The word length effect is the finding that short items are remembered better than long items on immediate serial recall tests. The time-based word length effect refers to this finding when the lists comprise items that vary only in pronunciation time. Three experiments compared recall of three different sets of disyllabic words that differed systematically only in spoken duration. One set showed a word length effect, one set showed no effect of word length, and the third showed a reverse word length effect, with long words recalled better than short. A new fourth set of words was created, and it also failed to yield a time-based word length effect. Because all four experiments used the same methodology and varied only the stimulus sets, it is argued that the time-based word length effect is not robust and as such poses problems for models based on the phonological loop.     

A cross-modal interference effect in grasping objects

The aim of the present paper was to investigate how the kinematics of a hand reaching toward a visual target would be influenced by haptic and proprioceptive input from an unseen distractor actively grasped in the other, nonreaching hand. The main results were that the amplitude of maximum grip aperture was smaller and the time to maximum grip aperture was earlier when the distractor was smaller than the target. The interference effect from the distractor was similar for both hands as they reached. Furthermore, results from a vibrating-distractor condition for passive tactile input revealed that the interference effects were evident only when the distractor was actively grasped. We suggest that neural processing of proprioceptive and tactile information relevant to distractor size produced the observed interference effects. We also emphasize the importance of active manipulation of the distractor stimulus in eliciting such interference effects.     

Pavlov in Spain

Reflexology has been present throughout Spanish science since the last third of the nineteenth century and its importance can be seen in the works of authors such as Martín Salazar, Ramón y Cajal, Gómez Oca?a, Simarro and Turró. The most important research in Reflexology in Spain takes place a) at the Schools of Neurophysiology and Psychology in Barcelona and Madrid, b) with a group of authors specializing in pathological medicine and c) in the Military's Health Department, Pavlov's work was received in Spain with special interest. Fernández-Espa?a, who could be considered the "first Spanish Pavlovian," emphasized Pavlov's work in a series dedicated to the study of objective psychology which was published between 1914 and 1924. Planelles was the first investigator to develop a program in pavlovian experimentation, presenting his results in 1935. The Civil War (1936-1939) ended these and many other Spanish projects in psychology. After the war, interest in Reflexology and Pavlov's theories slowly rose again, first through psychosomatic medicine and then in the 60's because of the works of such authors as Monserrat-Esteve, Rof Carballo and Colodrón. The progressive inclusion of psychology in the Schools of Philosophy and Arts after 1968 marked the beginning of a new era.     

Stereotype development in Andalusian children

Social psychologists have shown a profound interest in intergroup relationships, but there are very few papers focusing on the developmental aspects that explain the psychological mechanisms involved in the construction of group and cultural identity. Our research aims to explore how the self-categorization of Andalusian children evolves. We tried to assess the degree to which they self-identify as Andalusian, Spanish, and European, and how this identification changes with age. We were also interested in the affective evaluation of different groups (French, Italian, English, German, Spanish, Catalonian, and Andalusian) made by Andalusian children. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship between self-categorization and the evaluation of these groups. Results show that the development of national (autonomous community) identity in these children is influenced by their cognitive development, as well as by the relationships among the regional communities of Spain and the relationships between Spain and other countries. The peculiarity of Andalusians as a group is that they assume both identities: Spanish and Andalusian, from a very early age. In-group favoritism is an extended phenomenon at all ages, and Andalusian children have a negative stereotype of the other Spanish groups and other European communities.     

The use of prosodic cues in language discrimination tasks by rats

Recent research with cotton-top tamarin monkeys has revealed language discrimination abilities similar to those found in human infants, demonstrating that these perceptual abilities are not unique to humans but are also present in non-human primates. Specifically, tamarins could discriminate forward but not backward sentences of Dutch from Japanese, using both natural and synthesized utterances. The present study was designed as a conceptual replication of the work on tamarins. Results show that rats trained in a discrimination learning task readily discriminate forward, but not backward sentences of Dutch from Japanese; the results are particularly robust for synthetic utterances, a pattern that shows greater parallels with newborns than with tamarins. Our results extend the claims made in the research with tamarins that the capacity to discriminate languages from different rhythmic classes depends on general perceptual abilities that evolved at least as far back as the rodents. Electronic Publication     

Timed picture naming: Extended norms and validation against previous studies

Factors affecting word retrieval were compared in a timed picture-naming paradigm for 520 drawings of objects. In prior timed and untimed studies by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) and Snodgrass and Yuditsky (1996), concerns were raised that participants could not reliably name large numbers of items in a single session. We show that reliable results are obtained in a single session for 520 items and validate our method against previous findings by Snodgrass and colleagues for overlapping items. For these items, comparable levels of name agreement and latency are obtained, and we replicate effects of length, frequency, both objective and subjective age of acquisition, and visual complexity on reaction time (RT) and name agreement measures. Name agreement is unaffected by order of presentation, although there is a gradual increase in RTs across the session, requiring use of multiple random orders. Current extensions of our method include cross-linguistic, bilingual, developmental, and neuropsychological studies and comparisons of action naming and object naming.     

The experience of spirituality in the psycho-social adaptation of cancer survivors

This article presents the results of a retrospective, phenomenological study of the experience of spirituality in the psychosocial adaptation of cancer survivors. The experience of illness for the participants in the study is one which promotes greater personal and spiritual growth. The study demonstrates that illness provokes personal growth and transformation in the individual. While making use of pre-existing coping resources, the person with cancer reevaluates and restructures her or his life, integrating new values, priorities, and perspectives which lead the patient to invest her or his life in something meaningful and beneficial to others.     

Pattern of intrusions in verbal recall: comparison of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and frontal lobe dementia

Although some researchers have suggested that intrusions in word list learning are more frequent in Alzheimer's disease, recent studies have shown that this might not be true. In fact, intrusions are common in many neurological degenerative diseases. The goal of the present study was to examine the types of intrusions made by three groups of patients, namely patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and dementia with prominent frontal lobe semiology (FD). Although PD patients learned more words (trials 1 to 5 on the RAVLT) than the two other groups, there was no significant difference in the total number of intrusions. However, significant differences between groups were observed for nonrelated intrusions, the proportion of PD patients (15.4%) being lower than the proportion of AD (45.5%) and FD (45.8%) patients with this type of intrusions. No other type of intrusions (same category, recurring, phonemic) significantly differentiated between the three groups. The proactive interference effect (PI), measured as the difference between first recall of list A and list B recall, was stronger in PD than in the two other groups, reflecting the strong positive correlation between total number of words recalled on the RAVLT and severity of the PI effect. Prior list intrusions (intrusions from list A while recalling list B items) were significantly more pronounced in FD than in the two other groups. Finally, free associations (series of intrusions related to one another but not to the target items) were observed almost exclusively in FD patients. These findings illustrate some qualitative differences between various neurological degenerative diseases. They also stress the marked similarities between AD and FD with regards to verbal learning.