Conjoint dissociations reveal involuntary "perceptual" priming from generating at study.

Incidental perceptual memory tests reveal priming when words are generated orally from a semantic cue at study, and this priming could reflect contamination by voluntary retrieval. We tested this hypothesis using a generate condition and two read conditions that differed in depth of processing (read-phonemic vs read-semantic). An intentional word-stem completion test showed an advantage for the read-semantic over the generate condition and an advantage for the generate over the read-phonemic condition, and completion times were longer than in a control test, prior to which there was no study phase. An incidental word-stem completion test showed equivalent priming for the read-semantic and read-phonemic study conditions, despite considerable power, and completion times were no longer than control, indicating that retrieval was involuntary, and insensitive to prior conceptual processing. The generate condition produced less priming than the read conditions, but significant priming nonetheless. The results show that priming from generating can be involuntary and suggest that lexical processes are responsible. They are also the first results conjointly showing a crossed double dissociation, a single dissociation, and a parallel effect across memory tests with identical physical retrieval cues.     

A delivery system for olfactory stimuli

This paper describes the design of a new method for controlling and administering olfactory stimuli—namely, thehood system. The hood system involves a stream of vaporized odor (at known concentrations) mixed with odorless air and pumped (at a constant flow rate) into an oxygen therapy hood. It is designed to be used with odorants in solution, such as essential oils, as the olfactory stimulus. The use of oxygen therapy hoods allows for the precise control of a constant concentration of odorized air over time, while allowing subjects to breathe normally. The hood system provides a natural administration of olfactory stimuli and the exact determination of the stimulus concentration. The use of this system will allow experimental conditions to be completely defined and results and replication studies to be accurately interpreted. The hood system is portable, cost effective, and constructed from readily available components. It is proposed that the hood system could be adopted to suit a wide range of olfactory research, particularly that in which the effects of chronic exposure to olfactory stimuli on cognition are examined.     

Attachment-based classifications of children's family drawings: psychometric properties and relations with children's adjustment in kindergarten.

Investigated an attachment-based theoretical framework and classification system, introduced by Kaplan and Main (1986), for interpreting children's family drawings. This study concentrated on the psychometric properties of the system and the relation between drawings classified using this system and teacher ratings of classroom social-emotional and behavioral functioning, controlling for child age, ethnic status, intelligence, and fine motor skills. This nonclinical sample consisted of 200 kindergarten children of diverse racial and socioeconomic status (SES). Limited support for reliability of this classification system was obtained. Kappas for overall classifications of drawings (e.g., secure) exceeded .80 and mean kappa for discrete drawing features (e.g., figures with smiles) was .82. Coders' endorsement of the presence of certain discrete drawing features predicted their overall classification at 82.5% accuracy. Drawing classification was related to teacher ratings of classroom functioning independent of child age, sex, race, SES, intelligence, and fine motor skills (with p values for the multivariate effects ranging from .043-.001). Results are discussed in terms of the psychometric properties of this system for classifying children's representations of family and the limitations of family drawing techniques for young children.     

Nonstrategic subjective threshold effects in phonemic masking

Three backward-masking experiments demonstrated that the magnitude of the phonemic mask reduction effect (MRE) is a function of subjective threshold and that the magnitude is also independent of stimulus-based response strategies. In all three experiments, a target word (e.g., bake) was backward masked by a graphemically similar nonword (e.g., BAWK), a phonemically similar nonword (e.g., BAIK), or an unrelated control (e.g., CRUG). Experiments 1 and 2 had a low percentage (9%) of trials with phonemic masks and differed only in baseline identification rate. Experiment 3 controlled baseline identification rate at below and above subjective threshold levels, with 9% phonemic trials. The results were that identification rates were higher with phonemic masks than with graphemic masks, irrespective of the low percentage of phonemic trials. However, the magnitude of the phonemic MRE became large only when the baseline identification rate was below subjective threshold. The pattern of the phonemic MRE was interpreted as a result of rapid automatic phonological activation, independent of stimulus-based processing strategies.     

A Uniform Approach for Characterizing the Provably Total Number-Theoretic Functions of KPM and (Some of) its Subsystems

In this article we show how to extract with the use of the Buchholz-Cichon-Weiermann approach to subrecursive hierarchies from Rathjen's 1991 ordinal analysis of KPM a characterization of the provably total number-theoretic functions of KPM and some of its (most prominent) subsystems in a uniform and direct way.     

Tracing and heavenly freedom

A new version of the ontological argument for the existence of God is outlined and examined. After giving a brief account of some traditional ontological arguments for the existence of God, where their defects are identified, it is explained how this new argument is built upon their foundations and surmounts their defects. In particular, this version uses the resources of impossible worlds to plug the common escape route from standard modal versions of the ontological argument. After outlining the nature of impossible worlds, and motivating the need for positing them, the new argument is delineated and its premises justified. It is taken for granted that the argument cannot be sound, since it would prove too much. However, its premises are all plausible, and their denial promises to have significant ramifications. Several intuitive lines of objections are then explored in order to illuminate their shortcomings. The puzzle that the argument poses is therefore not whether the argument is sound, for it clearly cannot be. Rather, it is to place pressure on its plausible premises, so some plausible account of how the argument fails can be identified, and that the devising of such an account promises to be insightful. In the process, we should gain an improved understanding of how such ontological arguments work.     

The Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms Distress Index: A pragmatic exploration of general factors to enhance a multidimensional scale

Objective: The authors attempted to develop and validate a general distress index for a multidimensional psychological symptom/outcome measure used in over 300 college counseling centers with more than 100,000 cases annually: the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS). Method: Four models were compared for fit indices (n = 19,247): the existing first-order factor model (without a general factor), a second-order factor model, a bifactor model, and a single factor or “total score” model. In separate clinical and non-clinical samples, concurrent and divergent validity were examined using several well-established measures of psychological symptoms, as well as two-week test–retest and treatment utilization data. Results: Second-order and bifactor models which captured a single “distress” factor both exhibited good fit to the data relative to the baseline and “total score” model. Validity data indicated that factors adequately measured meaningful clinical onstructs. Conclusion: Both the bifactor and second-order models indicated the presence of a “distress index” comprised items across many of the CCAPS subscales. This distress scale has strong applicability for benchmarking the overall severity and complexity of patients at different centers, and can be used to help identify colleges and universities with areas of clinical strength, which can be studied to improve the field. Clinically, the distress index offers a parsimonious and efficient method for clinicians to monitor patients’ progress through treatment.     

Anger and sadness in response to an emotionally neutral film: evidence for age-specific associations with well-being

When the association between emotion and well-being is being considered, positive emotions usually come to mind. However, negative emotions serve important adaptive functions and particular negative emotions may be especially adaptive at different stages of adult development. We examined the associations between self-reported negative emotions in response to an emotionally neutral, thematically ambiguous film and subjective well-being among 76 young (age 20-29), 73 middle-aged (age 40-49), and 73 older (age 60-69) adults. Results indicated that higher self-reported anger in response to the film was associated with higher well-being for middle-aged adults, but not for young and older adults. Higher self-reported sadness in response to the film was associated with higher well-being for older adults, but not for young and middle-aged adults. These findings were stronger for cognitive well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life) than for affective well-being (i.e., ratio of dispositional positive to negative affect) and were specific to these emotions (not found for self-reported disgust or fear) and to the emotionally neutral film (not found for sad or disgusting films). Results are discussed in terms of the functions that anger and sadness are thought to serve and the control opportunities afforded in midlife and late life that render these functions differentially adaptive.     

The assessment of protective behavioral strategies: Comparing prediction and factor structures across measures

Protective behavioral strategies (PBS), or drinking control strategies, are specific behaviors one can utilize to minimize the harmful consequences of alcohol consumption. As there is not currently a standard measure of PBS, the goal of the present study was to examine the factor structure and concurrent validity of three scales designed to assess PBS: Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS; Martens, M. P., Ferrier, A. G., Sheehy, M. J., Corbett, K., Anderson, D. A., & Simmons, A., 2005 Development of the Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66, 698-705), Protective Behavioral Strategies Measure (Novik, M. G., & Boekeloo, B. O., 2011, Dimensionality and psychometric analysis of an alcohol protective behavioral strategies scale. Journal of Drug Education, 41, 65-78. doi:10.2190/DE.41.1.d), and the Strategy Questionnaire (SQ); (Sugarman, D. E., & Carey, K. B., 2007), The relationship between drinking control strategies and college student alcohol use. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 338-345. doi:10.1037/0893-164X.21.3.338). In a sample of college students (n = 291), we used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the proposed factor structures of each scale. Although the theorized three-factor structure fit the data moderately well for the PBSS, the theorized factor structures for the Protective Behavioral Strategies Measure and SQ did not fit the data well. Further, the composite scores from the PBSS were all significantly negatively correlated with alcohol-related problems, whereas the composites of the SQ were not significantly correlated with alcohol-related problems. Although we have evidence in favor of 1 PBS measure over others, we discuss broader issues related to assessment of PBS. We consider the different instructions, response scales, and time intervals for various PBS measures in terms of how they relate to the advancement of PBS research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Communication behavior and relationship satisfaction among American and Chinese newlywed couples

Most research on couple communication patterns comes from North America and Europe and suggests cross-cultural universality in effects, but emerging studies suggest that couple communication takes different forms depending on the cultural context in which it occurs. The current study addressed this discrepancy by comparing the observed social support behaviors of 50 newlywed American couples and 41 newlywed Mainland Chinese couples, first on mean levels of positivity and negativity and second on behavior-satisfaction associations. Consistent with predictions derived from observational work by Tsai and Levenson (1997), Chinese couples were observed displaying significantly more negative behavior than American couples, even after controlling for relationship satisfaction; the 2 groups did not differ in observed positive behaviors. Tests of the moderating role of culture on behavior-satisfaction associations showed that positivity was significantly related to relationship satisfaction only for American husbands, whereas negativity was significantly associated with relationship satisfaction only for Chinese husbands. We speculate that cultural contexts may influence the display and evaluation of behavior in intimate relationships, suggesting the need for caution when generalizing models and associated interventions to non-Western couples.