Categorizing entities by common role

Many categories group together entities that play a common role across situations. For example, guest and host refer to complementary roles in visiting situations and, thus, are role-governed categories (A. B. Markman & Stilwell, Journal of Experiment & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 13, 329-358, 2001). However, categorizing an entity by role is one of many possible classification strategies. This article examines factors that promote role-governed categorization over thematic-relation-based categorization (Lin & Murphy, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 3-28, 2001). In Experiments 1a and 1b, we demonstrate that the use of novel category labels facilitates role-governed categorization. In Experiments 2a and 2b, we demonstrate that analogical comparison facilitates role-governed categorization. In Experiments 1b and 2b, we show that these facilitatory factors induce a general sensitivity to role information, as opposed to only promoting role-governed categorization on an item-by-item basis.     

Walking and talking: dual-task effects on street crossing behavior in older adults

The ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously has become increasingly important as technologies such as cell phones and portable music players have become more common. In the current study, we examined dual-task costs in older and younger adults using a simulated street crossing task constructed in an immersive virtual environment with an integrated treadmill so that participants could walk as they would in the real world. Participants were asked to cross simulated streets of varying difficulty while either undistracted, listening to music, or conversing on a cell phone. Older adults were more vulnerable to dual-task impairments than younger adults when the crossing task was difficult; dual-task costs were largely absent in the younger adult group. Performance costs in older adults were primarily reflected in timeout rates. When conversing on a cell phone, older adults were less likely to complete their crossing compared with when listening to music or undistracted. Analysis of time spent next to the street prior to each crossing, where participants were presumably analyzing traffic patterns and making decisions regarding when to cross, revealed that older adults took longer than younger adults to initiate their crossing, and that this difference was exacerbated during cell phone conversation, suggesting impairments in cognitive planning processes. Our data suggest that multitasking costs may be particularly dangerous for older adults even during everyday activities such as crossing the street.     

Examination of the influence of contingency on changes in reinforcer value

This study examined how the amount of effort required to produce a reinforcer influenced subsequent preference for, and strength of, that reinforcer in 7 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Preference assessments identified four moderately preferred stimuli for each participant, and progressive-ratio (PR) analyses indexed reinforcer strength. Stimuli were then assigned to one of four conditions for 4 weeks: fixed-ratio (FR) 1 schedule, escalating FR schedule, yoked noncontingent (NCR) delivery, and restricted access. Preference assessments and PR schedules were then repeated to examine changes in selection percentages and PR break points. Selection percentages decreased for all NCR stimuli but increased for most of the restricted stimuli. There were no systematic changes in selection percentages for either of the contingent stimuli. Break points increased, on average, for all conditions, but the increase was highest for the restricted stimuli and lowest for the NCR stimuli. These results are discussed in relation to recent basic research addressing the influence of effort on stimulus value.     

Sociocultural theories,academic achievement,and African American adolescents in a multicultural context: a review of the cultural incompatibility perspective

Some theories have posited that African American youth are academic underachievers because of sociocultural factors. We label this point of view the cultural incompatibility perspective. Ogbu’s oppositional culture theory and Steele’s stereotype threat theory are selected as popular examples of this viewpoint. A critical review of the literature on these particular theories was conducted. It was concluded that there is limited empirical support for the cultural incompatibility perspective on African American academic achievement. This raises questions about the focus on academic underachievement among African Americans versus high achievement among other ethnic/racial groups. Implications of the empirical findings on the incompatibility perspective for the role of African American culture in Black student achievement are discussed.     

The use of prisoners as sources of organs--an ethically dubious practice

The movement to try to close the ever-widening gap between demand and supply of organs has recently arrived at the prison gate. While there is enthusiasm for using executed prisoners as sources of organs, there are both practical barriers and moral concerns that make it unlikely that proposals to use prisoners will or should gain traction. Prisoners are generally not healthy enough to be a safe source of organs, execution makes the procurement of viable organs difficult, and organ donation post-execution ties the medical profession too closely to the act of execution.     

Structural comparison and consumer choice

Psychological research has demonstrated important parallels between the structural alignment process involved in judgments of similarity and the processes that are involved in analogical reasoning. Gradually, this work on comparisons was applied to consumer choice. In this paper, we review the influence of structural alignment on choices among a set of options. Then, we discuss extensions of this work to comparative advertising and to the role of analogy in marketing communication. Finally, we discuss important extensions to structural alignment suggested by this work such as the key role that affect plays in comparisons made during the choice process.     

All gifts large and small: toward an understanding of the ethics of pharmaceutical industry gift-giving

Much attention has been focused in recent years on the ethical acceptability of physicians receiving gifts from drug companies. Professional guidelines recognize industry gifts as a conflict of interest and establish thresholds prohibiting the exchange of large gifts while expressly allowing for the exchange of small gifts such as pens, note pads, and coffee. Considerable evidence from the social sciences suggests that gifts of negligible value can influence the behavior of the recipient in ways the recipient does not always realize. Policies and guidelines that rely on arbitrary value limits for gift-giving or receipt should be reevaluated.     

Transfer of skill engendered by complex task training under conditions of variable priority

We explored the theoretical underpinnings of a commonly used training strategy by examining issues of training and transfer of skill in the context of a complex video game (Space Fortress, Donchin, 1989). Participants trained using one of two training regimens: Full Emphasis Training (FET) or Variable Priority Training (VPT). Transfer of training was assessed with a large battery of cognitive and psychomotor tasks ranging from basic laboratory paradigms measuring reasoning, memory, and attention to complex real-world simulations. Consistent with previous studies, VPT accelerated learning and maximized task mastery. However, the hypothesis that VPT would result in broader transfer of training received limited support. Rather, transfer was most evident in tasks that were most similar to the Space Fortress game itself. Results are discussed in terms of potential limitations of the VPT approach.     

When two is too many: Collaborative encoding impairs memory

Humans routinely encode and retrieve experiences in interactive, collaborative contexts. Yet much of what we know about human memory comes from research on individuals working in isolation. Some recent research has examined collaboration during retrieval, but not much is known about how collaboration during encoding affects memory. We examined this issue. Participants created episodes by elaborating on study materials alone or collaboratively, and they later performed a cued-recall task alone, with the study partner, or with a different partner (Experiment 1). Collaborative encoding impaired recall. This counterintuitive outcome was found for both individual and group recall, even when the same partners collaborated across encoding and retrieval. This impairment was significantly reduced, but persisted, when the encoding instructions encouraged free-flowing collaboration (Experiment 2). Thus, the collaborative-encoding deficit is robust in nature and likely occurs because collaborative encoding produces less effective cues for later retrieval.