Parallel versus serial processing and individual differences in high-speed search in human memory

Many mental tasks that involve operations on a number of items take place within a few hundred milliseconds. In such tasks, whether the items are processed simultaneously (in parallel) or sequentially (serially) has long been of interest to psychologists. Although certain types of parallel and serial models have been ruled out, it has proven extremely difficult to entirely separate reasonable serial and limited-capacity parallel models on the basis of typical data. Recent advances in theory-driven methodology now permit strong tests of serial versus parallel processing in such tasks, in ways that bypass the capacity issue and that are distribution and parameter free. We employ new methodologies to assess serial versus parallel processing and find strong evidence for pure serial or pure parallel processing, with some striking apparent differences across individuals and interstimulus conditions.     

Pragmatism and Developmentalism in Brazilian Educational Thought in the 1950s/1960

This article proposes to analyse some aspects of the appropriation of New School thinking in Brazil, particularly Deweyan pragmatism, in the 1950s and 1960s. The analysis is based on the assumption that the developmentalist ideology that punctuated the debate on the economic, political and social restructuring of the country in these two decades constituted fertile ground for the return and expansion of pragmatist thinking amongst Brazilian educators, articulating itself, sometimes in contradictory ways, with this ideology. The focus of the analysis will be on the writings of the group of educators which circulated around the figure of Anísio Teixeira, at the time director of the National Institute for Pedagogic Studies (INEP), an organ linked to the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), which set itself the task of producing research that would support public policy in the field of education, as well as constituting itself as a center for teacher education and the stimulus and development of innovative experiences in the public school system. The appropriation of Deweyan pragmatism, in this context, had a triple perspective: pragmatism as scientific method, implying a specific conception of science, particularly the social sciences, with emphasis on the application of scientific knowledge in the solution of practical problems; as a way of democratic life; and as a synonym for experimentalism, in the sphere of schooling.     

Relational factors of vulnerability and protection for adolescent pregnancy: a cross-sectional comparative study of Portuguese pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents of low socioeconomic status

This study explores multiple relational contexts that promote vulnerability and protection against early pregnancy in a potential risk group of Portuguese adolescents. A comparative analysis was made between two groups of female adolescents of low socioeconomic status: pregnant adolescents (n=57) and adolescents without a history of pregnancy (n=81). Results suggest that several variables belonging to different contexts-family and school and peer relations--are important in the characterization of the two groups. Lower levels of mother's overprotection and father's emotional support, presence of early pregnancy in adolescent's mother, lower level of emotional proximity to peer relations, and higher number of school failures are significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy.     

Family predictors of antisocial behavior in adolescence

The goal of the present study was to examine the combined and unique ability of different aspects of family functioning to predict involvement in antisocial behavior in a large nonclinical (community) sample of adolescents. Distinction was made between global (e.g., family socioeconomic status), distal (dispositional characteristics of parents), contextual (family characteristics), and proximal (parent-child interaction) factors that operate within families. Results show that proximal factors were significant predictors of antisocial behavior, independent of their shared variance with other factors. Consistent with the hypothesized mediational model, the effects of distal and contextual factors appear to be mostly indirect: after their association with proximal factors was taken into account, these factors were no longer significantly related to antisocial behavior. The implications of these findings for planning of developmentally appropriate interventions for adolescents and their families are discussed.     

Reducing bias in frequency judgment by improving source monitoring

A common finding in judgment and decision making is that people's frequency judgments often fail to map onto objective frequencies. The present research examined the possibility that one source of bias in frequency judgment is attributable to people's inability to screen out irrelevant memory traces. We used a two-list source-monitoring paradigm to investigate whether frequency judgments are influenced by "extra-experimental" experiences and whether enhancing source monitoring improves judgment accuracy. Across four experiments we found: (1) frequency judgments regarding one list were biased by the second, (2) manipulating encoding between lists improved source monitoring and resulted in more accurate judgments, (3) manipulating item context between lists improved source monitoring and resulted in more accurate judgments, but only when the context was item specific, and (4) manipulating simple-background context between lists was ineffective at improving source monitoring.     

Obtaining funding for new researchers in psychology

A mentor is the key person to assist a student who wishes to become an independent investigator. The federal government provides long-term funding for decades of research by an investigator, and short-term funding for years of transition from student to investigator is available from both governmental and private agencies. Grants designed for men and women and various ethnic groups are valuable resources. Courteous acknowledgment of sponsorship by the grantee facilitates continued grants from the funding source.     

Substance Use and Psychological Adjustment in Homeless Adolescents: A Test of Three Models

Three models of adolescent substance use, the deviance-prone, affect-regulation, and normative development models, were assessed regarding their ability to predict the substance use of a high-risk homeless adolescent sample with high rates of deviance, depression, and substance use. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses that included tests for curvilinear and gender interaction effects were performed. Results supported the deviance-prone model most strongly, with delinquency but not aggressive behavior predicting substance use. The affect-regulation model received support for females but not for males. With respect to the normative development model, results did not indicate that moderate substance users were better off than abstainers in terms of negative affect or interpersonal relationships.     

Size perception by vision and kinesthesia

When two sizes, one perceived by vision and the other by kinesthesia, are apparently equal, the physical relationship between them varies: The sizes may be equal, or the visual size may be larger than the kinesthetic size, or vice versa. In this study, the method of cross-modal matching and the method of magnitude production were used to explore the relationship between apparently equal sizes (5–40 cm) perceived by vision and by kinesthesia. The sizes were linear or circular, and the mode of standard presentation was visual, kinesthetic, or verbal. The size and the direction of the intermodal mismatch varied with the size of the standard. It was also found that an apparent length of movement varied with the direction of movement. In all conditions, the relationship between apparently equal visual and kinesthetic sizes was well approximated by a power function.     

Traumatization of group leaders in their work with displaced persons

Displaced persons are a special, threatened group of people, participants in this war, who were suddenly forced to abandon their homes. The majority of them were, overnight, left without anything they had, some even without their closest family. They all have one thing in common: they have all lost so much. Work with such people is directed toward overcoming their feelings of loss and abandonment and preventing psychical decompensation. Groups of displaced persons temporarily sheltered in the Rijeka region have been observed to be markedly regressed, with increased sensitivity, a low degree of tolerance, great demands on society and strongly expressed projective tendencies. Therapists suffer personal traumatization in working with displaced persons. This paper describes the reactions and feelings of group leaders caused by manifestations of group dynamics in different phases of exile.