Effects of amount and kind of prior target-uncertainty reduction in the repeated presentations paradigm

Single letters were presented for varying numbers of repeated brief exposures. The S reported on the target after each presentation, identifying only those symbols perceived with certainty. A d’ analysis of the results revealed that target-uncertainty reduction produced significant facilitation in the average level of perceptual sensitivity only in a condition in which the target symbol was exposed prior to each trial. Prior knowledge of the target symbol without prior exposure produced a measurable, but nonsignificant, facilitation in sensitivity. The data suggested that the growth curve normally associated with the repeated-presentations paradigm may be the result of a progressive liberalization of the S’s criterion for reporting in some studies. The data further showed that prior exposure and perhaps prior knowledge can significantly alter the shape of the repetition curve when the target is a single letter. These findings were interpreted as an indication that both amount and kind of target-uncertainty reduction can produce significant changes in the repetition effect for single letters.     

Relationship Education for Military Couples: Recommendations for Best Practice

Military couples have a number of distinctive strengths and challenges that are likely to influence their relationship adjustment. Military couples' strengths include stable employment, financial security, and subsidized health and counseling services. At the same time, military couples often experience long periods of separation and associated difficulties with emotional disconnect, trauma symptoms, and reintegrating the family. This paper describes best practice recommendations for working with military couples, including: addressing the distinctive challenges of the military lifestyle, ensuring program delivery is seen as relevant by military couples, and providing relationship education in formats that enhance the accessibility of programs.     

Examining the Construct Validity of the MMPI–2–RF Interpersonal Functioning Scales Using the Computerized Adaptive Test of Personality Disorder as a Comparative Framework

This study aimed to examine the construct validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2–RF) interpersonal functioning scales (Ben-Porath &; Tellegen, 2008/2011 Ben-Porath, Y. S., &; Tellegen, A. (2011). MMPI–2–RF (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form) manual for administration, scoring, and interpretation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 2008) [Google Scholar]) using as a criterion measure the Computerized Adaptive Test of Personality Disorder–Static Form (CAT–PD–SF; Simms et al., 2011 Simms, L. J., Goldberg, L. R., Roberts, J. E., Watson, D., Welte, J., &; Rotterman, J. H. (2011). Computerized adaptive assessment of personality disorder: Introducing the CAT–PD project. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93, 380–389.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Participants were college students (n = 98) recruited through the university subject pool. A series of a priori hypotheses were developed for each of the 6 interpersonal functioning scales of the MMPI–2–RF, expressed as predicted correlations with construct-relevant CAT–PD–SF scales. Of the 27 specific predictions, 21 were supported by substantial (≥ |.30|) correlations. The MMPI–2–RF Family Problems scale (FML) demonstrated the strongest correlations with CAT–PD–SF scales Anhedonia and Mistrust; Cynicism (RC3) was most highly correlated with Mistrust and Norm Violation; Interpersonal Passivity (IPP) was most highly correlated with Domineering and Rudeness; Social Avoidance (SAV) was most highly correlated with Social Withdrawal and Anhedonia; Shyness (SHY) was most highly correlated with Social Withdrawal and Anxioiusness; and Disaffiliativeness (DSF) was most highly correlated with Emotional Detachment and Mistrust. Results are largely consistent with hypotheses suggesting support for both models of constructs relevant to interpersonal functioning. Future research designed to more precisely differentiate Social Avoidance (SAV) and Shyness (SHY) is suggested.     

Holding a manual response sequence in memory can disrupt vocal responses that share semantic features with the manual response

Holding an action plan in memory for later execution can delay execution of another action if the actions share a similar (compatible) feature. This compatibility interference (CI) occurs for actions that share the same response modality (e.g., manual response). We investigated whether CI can generalize to actions that utilize different response modalities (manual and vocal). In three experiments, participants planned and withheld a sequence of key-presses with the left- or right-hand based on the visual identity of the first stimulus, and then immediately executed a speeded, vocal response (‘left’ or ‘right’) to a second visual stimulus. The vocal response was based on discriminating stimulus color (Experiment 1), reading a written word (Experiment 2), or reporting the antonym of a written word (Experiment 3). Results showed that CI occurred when the manual response hand (e.g., left) was compatible with the identity of the vocal response (e.g., ‘left’) in Experiment 1 and 3, but not in Experiment 2. This suggests that partial overlap of semantic codes is sufficient to obtain CI unless the intervening action can be accessed automatically (Experiment 2). These findings are consistent with the code occupation hypothesis and the general framework of the theory of event coding (Behav Brain Sci 24:849–878, 2001a; Behav Brain Sci 24:910–937, 2001b).     

Deficits in verbal long-term memory and learning in children with poor phonological short-term memory skills

Possible links between phonological short-term memory and both longer term memory and learning in 8-year-old children were investigated in this study. Performance on a range of tests of long-term memory and learning was compared for a group of 16 children with poor phonological short-term memory skills and a comparison group of children of the same age with matched nonverbal reasoning abilities but memory scores in the average range. The low-phonological-memory group were impaired on longer term memory and learning tasks that taxed memory for arbitrary verbal material such as names and nonwords. However, the two groups performed at comparable levels on tasks requiring the retention of visuo-spatial information and of meaningful material and at carrying out prospective memory tasks in which the children were asked to carry out actions at a future point in time. The results are consistent with the view that poor short-term memory function impairs the longer term retention and ease of learning of novel verbal material.     

Long lasting effects of unmasking in a feature fusion paradigm

In spite of more than 100 years of research, the mechanisms underlying visual masking are still unknown. In recent publications, we introduced an unmasking paradigm involving the fusion of features that revealed interesting spatial characteristics. Here, we investigate the temporal aspects of this paradigm showing very long lasting effects that impose serious restrictions on models of masking. We used a simple feed-forward neural network model to explain these results.