Unconscious primes activate motor codes through semantics

Today, it is generally accepted that unconscious stimuli can activate a response code, which leads to a response congruency effect (RCE) on a subsequent target. However, it is not yet clear whether this is due to the semantic processing of the primes or to the formation of direct stimulus-response (S-R) associations bypassing the semantic system. Recently, it was shown that even novel primes, for which no direct S-R links exist, can also evoke an RCE that is in line with the activation of response codes through semantics. In these experiments, the authors examined 3 alternatives for this RCE from novel primes and report a novel effect in unconscious priming. First, the authors show that this effect is not limited to a small set of numerical stimuli but also extends to letter stimuli (Experiments 1-3). Second, the authors show that the RCE is not a side effect of the prime-target distance effect, as has been reported before (Experiments 1-2). Third, the authors found that, for RCE to occur, overlap at the motor level but not at the semantic level was crucial (Experiments 2-3). Finally, in addition, the results showed a category match priming effect independent of RCE. This last result is evidence that novel unconscious primes activate their semantic category prior to the target and might be considered a good marker for semantic processing.     

Incremental validity of a measure of emotional intelligence

After the Schutte Self-Report Inventory of Emotional Intelligence (SSRI; Schutte et al., 1998) was found to predict college grade point average, subsequent emotional intelligence (EI)-college adjustment research has used inconsistent measures and widely varying criteria, resulting in confusion about the construct's predictive validity. In this study, we assessed the SSRI's incremental validity for a wide range of adjustment criteria, pitting it against a competing trait measure, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992), and tests of fluid and crystallized intelligence. At a broad bandwidth, the SSRI total score significantly and uniquely predicted variance beyond NEO-FFI domain scores in the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Revised (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrono, 1980) scores. Higher fidelity analyses using previously identified SSRI factors and NEO-FFI item clusters revealed that the SSRI's Optimism/Mood Regulation and Emotion Appraisal factors contributed unique variance to self-reported study habits and social stress, respectively. The potential moderation of incremental validity by gender did not reach significance due to loss of power from splitting the sample, and mediational analyses revealed the SSRI Optimism/Mood Regulation factor was both directly and indirectly related to various criteria. We discuss the small magnitude of incremental validity coefficients and the differential incremental validity of SSRI factor and total scores.     

Cross-notation number priming investigated at different stimulus onset asynchronies in parity and naming tasks

In this paper, a parity judgment task and a number naming task were used to investigate cross-notational number priming. Primes and targets could be verbal (e.g., seven) or Arabic numbers (e.g., 7), and were always presented in a different notation within the same trial (either a verbal prime and an Arabic target or an Arabic prime and a verbal target). Previous experiments showed that response latencies increase when the distance between prime and target increases (for example, in a naming task, seven is pronounced faster after 6 than after 5). This semantic distance priming effect was the same for Arabic and verbal targets and was the same for within-notation trials as for cross-notation trials. In the present experiments, we wanted to investigate whether the cross-notational priming effect also occurs at SOAs shorter than the ones used in previous experiments. Therefore, we used SOAs of 43, 57, 86, and 115 ms. Semantic distance effects were indeed present at these shorter SOAs: Processing times in the semantic parity judgment task and in the non-semantic naming task increased when the distance between prime and target increased. The results are discussed and integrated within an interactive dual-route model of number processing that postulates that the impact of the semantic and the non-semantic route depends on the task and the notation of the stimuli.     

The mental representation of ordinal sequences is spatially organized

In the domain of numbers the existence of spatial components in the representation of numerical magnitude has been convincingly demonstrated by an association between number magnitude and response preference with faster left- than right-hand responses for small numbers and faster right- than left-hand responses for large numbers (Dehaene, S., Bossini, S., & Giraux, P. (1993) The mental representation of parity and number magnitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122, 371-396). Because numbers convey not only real or integer meaning but also ordinal meaning, the question of whether non-numerical ordinal information is spatially coded naturally follows. While previous research failed to show an association between ordinal position and spatial response preference, we present two experiments involving months (Experiment 1) and letters (Experiment 2) in which spatial coding is demonstrated. Furthermore, the response-side effect was obtained with two different stimulus-response mappings. The association occurred both when ordinal information was relevant and when it was irrelevant to the task, showing that the spatial component of the ordinal representation can be automatically activated.     

Adaptive behavior of retarded,slow-learner,and average intelligence children

Scores on the WISC-R and the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale, Part I, Public School Version, were obtained for 94 elementary school children referred for psychological services in a southeastern rural area. Some of the adaptive behavior scores differentiated among children classified as EMR, slow-learners, or average intelligence. Some of the domain subscores of the ABS seem of questionable validity and reliability.     

Effects of personal causation and perceived control on responses to an aversive environment: The more control,the better

A laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate the effects on reactions to aversive noise of three types of personal control: control over the initiation of noise, control over its termination, and combined control over both initiation and termination. On an attention-to-detail measure which occurred concurrently with noise stimulation, subjects' error rates decreased linearly as degree of control increased. Likewise, on a post-noise measure of task persistence, subjects' performance rates increased linearly across the three conditions as degree of control increased. Results were discussed in terms of Seligman's theory of learned helplessness and deCharms' theory of personal causation, and the motivational effects of personal control were emphasized.     

MSA for a special spearman matrix

Kaiser's measure of sampling adequacy is applied to a special Spearman matrix and a specialq-cluster generalization. The result supports the contention that the measure should be no less than .5 for data to be appropriate for factor analysis.The research reported in this note was supported in part by the Program in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, National Science Foundation, and by the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.     

Eliminating the IQ-RT correlation by eliminating an experimental confound

Three experiments investigated the relation between visual scanning demands, reaction time (RT), and psychometrically defined intelligence (IQ). Prior studies have shown reliable correlations between RT and IQ in the range of −.20 to −.80. However, these studies have confounded the number of possible stimuli (stimulus uncertainty) with the size of the area in which the stimuli may appear (visual angle). Experiment 1 replicated these studies retaining this confound. As the number of stimuli increased from one to eight, the visual angle was permitted to increase as well (from 0° to 30°). The results showed that RT varied in accord with Hick's (1952) law, and a median correlation between IQ and six RT parameters (subjects' mean RTs and standard deviations at three levels of stimulus uncertainty) of −.47 was observed. Experiment 2 removed the confound, varying only stimulus uncertainty, and the median IQ-RT correlation declined to −.02. Experiment 3 held stimulus uncertainty constant at 1 bit (two stimuli) and varied visual angle; a median correlation of −.19 was observed. It was concluded that many of the previously reported correlations may not have hinged on speed of information processing alone, but at least in part on subjects' abilities to scan the display across which the stimuli appeared.