Pictorial and lexical priming: Patterns of implicit memory in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease patients

Lexical and pictorial priming were examined in patients with Alzheimer's disease and in demented and nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease. Control subjects were divided into young and elderly. Lexical priming used a word‐stem completion task. Pictorial priming task was based on Rey's superimposed pictures test. Elderly normal subjects demonstrated lower lexical priming scores than those of young subjects. Analysis of covariance with age and educational level as covariates showed that normal controls, demented and nondemented Parkinsonian patients, and Alzheimer patients did not differ significantly on the lexical priming task. Pictorial priming scores did not differ significantly between elderly and younger controls. In contrast there was a striking impairment of pictorial priming in Parkinsonian patients, both demented and nondemented. Performance of subjects with mild Alzheimer's disease was superior to that of nondemented Parkinsonian patients. Our results suggest that performance in lexical priming task diminishes with physiological ageing but is unaffected by mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease. Our study also observes the existence of a selective pictorial priming deficit in Parkinson's disease; however, this deficit is not specific, as it is also observed to a lesser degree in Alzheimer's disease. It may therefore be concluded that the systems serving pictorial priming are both cortical and subcortical.     

Effects of Stimulus Dimension on the Emergence of Transitivity Relations

The Psychological Record - The effect of stimuli dimension was assessed on the emergence of transitivity relations by the use of a go/no go procedure and the training of identity relations. Four...     

Validez ecológica y modelos de procesamiento de información

Resumen

Dos de los hallazgos más frecuentemente repetidos en la investigación sobre el procesamiento de las negativas: mayor TR de éstas que de las afirmativas correspondientes e interacción entre sintaxis y semántica son considerados en este estudio como posibles artefactos de la situación experimental, que no ha sabido, en general, tener en cuenta la función de las negativas en la conversación. Cuando en una situación de laboratorio se procura reproducir tal función, el tiempo de la negación disminuye de manera estadísticamente significativa y además no se da la interacción a la que se alude más arriba. Basándose en estos resultados se aboga por una mayor plausibilidad experimental que puede incrementar la ralidez ecológica de los modelos de procesamiento.     

Expansiones inadecuadas y relaciones semánticas

RESUMEN

En este trabajo Francisco Valle cuestiona el enfoque de la literatura americana sobre el lenguaje de los niños, en la que se considera el orden de las palabras como el medio estructural básico para transmitir significados y comunicar diferentes intenciones. Fundamenta sus críticas desde cuatro vertientes: datos provenientes de otras lenguas, algunas excepciones en niños angloparlantes o anglodiscentes, resultados de estudios de aceptabilidad gramatical y la nueva orientación de la lingüística y la psicología del lenguaje, para las que el componente semántico se ha convertido en el núcleo mismo del lenguaje. El autor coincide con Howe en el peligro del adultomorfismo, sugiriendo que tal vez la única manera de comprobar la presencia de intenciones semánticas en las expresiones lingüísticas infantiles sea comparar nuestras interpretaciones con las supuestas intenciones reales de los niños, retomando para ello el método de las expansiones inadecuadas. En la última parte se aclaran algunas confusiones cometidas por Bushnell y Aslin al aplicar este método y se explican las diferencias entre significado referencial y relacional, finalizando con un resumen de los puntos básicos que hay que tener en cuenta al hacer expansiones inadecuadas.     

Creative Mindsets and Their Affective and Social Consequences: A Latent Class Approach

In two studies, we tested the conceptualization of creative mindsets as latent classes, and examined several social and affective consequences of class membership. Business students completed a battery of questionnaires assessing creative personal identity, creative mindsets, social comparisons, pride, gratitude, anger, and sadness. Results from study 1 showed the presence of four latent classes: those holding low levels of both mindsets, those holding high levels of both mindsets, those holding high levels of a growth and low levels of a fixed mindset, and those holding medium levels of a growth and relative high levels of a fixed mindset. The latent class with low levels of both mindsets, growth and fixed, showed the lowest levels of creative personal identity. The latent class characterized by holding high levels of a fixed and growth mindset reported the highest tendency to use social comparison as a way of judging the quality of business ideas. Results from study 2 showed a similar four‐class solution. The low fixed and low growth creative mindset class showed the lowest levels of creative personal identity, higher levels of sadness and lower levels of pride and gratitude than some of the other classes.     

The categorisation of brands: The case of P&G™ branding strategy

In 2 studies, we tested what we considered to be the core of Procter and Gamble? (P&G?) latest branding strategy: making the association between its corporate brand and its product brands explicit. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions: explicit association between P&G? and one of its product brands and a control condition. Results from Study 1 showed a positive influence of the corporate brand on judgements of brand quality for Crest?. Similarly, results from Study 2 showed a positive influence of the corporate brand on judgements of brand quality and trust for Oral‐B?. From a multidisciplinary perspective, we discussed the theoretical and applied implications of our results.     

How remembering less acts of gratitude can make one feel more grateful and satisfied with close relationships: The role of ease of recall

Two studies were conducted to examine the influence of ease of recall on state gratitude and satisfaction with close relationships among college students from Mexico. Participants were randomly assigned to remembering and writing down two versus six acts for which they should be grateful. Participants then completed a battery of questionnaires measuring state gratitude, negative affect, satisfaction with close relationships, ease of recall and trait gratitude and extroversion (for Study 2 only). Results from both studies showed that recalling two acts was perceived as easier than recalling six acts. This experience of ease of recall had a positive influence on state gratitude, even after controlling for the effects of trait gratitude and extroversion, which then had positive relationship with satisfaction with close relationships.     

An Exploration of Some Antecedents and Consequences of Creative Self‐Efficacy among College Students

Two studies examined the role of task‐, self‐, and other‐approach achievement goals, trait curiosity, and enjoyment as antecedents of creative self‐efficacy and the influence of creative self‐efficacy on grade point average and perceived performance/effort exerted among college business students from Mexico. To test our research hypotheses, we used Structural Equation Modeling treating the variables as latent. Results from study 1 showed that task/self‐approach goal was a significant antecedent of creative self‐efficacy and enjoyment a marginally significant antecedent. Results from study 2 showed a positive, significant influence of trait curiosity on creative self‐efficacy. Similarly, creative self‐efficacy had a positive, direct influence on perceived performance/effort exerted and an indirect influence on students' grade point average. The implications of our results were discussed.