Dissociated imageability,concreteness, and familiarity in lateralized word recognition

According to Paivio’s (1971) dual-coding theory, the representational memory of words is indexed by familiarity ratings, whereas associated imagery (one type of referential memory) is indexed by imageability and concreteness ratings. The theory predicts that word recognition near threshold will be influenced only by the former and not by the latter two attributes. However, previous empirical findings are unclear on this issue. Furthermore, the report of some studies that imageability and concreteness interact with the visual field of presentation pose a potential challenge to the theory. Here, five experiments present lateralized words whose semantic attributes are dissociated by design and by correlational analysis. In support of the theory, a metaanalysis shows that only familiarity affects overall recognition and that none of the attributes interacts with visual field. Yet statistical power to find the effects was high, and a general right-field recognition advantage supports the hemispheric validity of the findings. Implications for continuous (e.g., “cascade”) models of information processing are discussed.     

Word attributes and lateralization revisited: Implications for dual coding and discrete versus continuous processing

Three attributes of words are their imageability, concreteness, and familiarity. From a literature review and several experiments, I previously concluded (Boles, 1983a) that only familiarity affects the overall near-threshold recognition of words, and that none of the attributes affects right-visual-field superiority for word recognition. Here these conclusions are modified by two experiments demonstrating a critical mediating influence of intentional versus incidental memory instructions. In Experiment 1, subjects were instructed to remember the words they were shown, for subsequent recall. The results showed effects of both imageability and familiarity on overall recognition, as well as an effect of imageability on lateralization. In Experiment 2, word-memory instructions were deleted and the results essentially reinstated the findings of Boles (1983a). It is concluded that right-hemisphere imagery processes can participate in word recognition under intentional memory instructions. Within the dual coding theory (Paivio, 1971), the results argue that both discrete and continuous processing modes are available, that the modes can be used strategically, and that continuous processing can occur prior to response stages.     

Do Internet‐Based Support Interventions Change Perceptions of Social Support?: An Experimental Trial of Approaches for Supporting Diabetes Self‐Management

Internet-based support groups are a rapidly growing segment of mutual aid programs for individuals with chronic illnesses and other challenges. Previous studies have informed us about the content of online exchanges between support group members, but we know little about the ability of these interventions to change participants' perceptions of support. A randomized trial of 160 adult Type 2 diabetes patients provided novice Internet users with computers and Internet access to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) diabetes information only, (b) a personal self-management coach, (c) a social support intervention, or (d) a personal self-management coach and the support intervention. After 3 months, individuals in the 2 support conditions reported significant increases in support on a diabetes-specific support measure and a general support scale. Participants' age was significantly related to change in social support, but intervention effects were still significant after accounting for this relationship. This report is a critical first step in evaluating the long-term effects of Internet-based support for diabetes self-management. The discussion identifies directions for future research.     

To Analyze or Not to Analyze: The Treatment of a Severely Disturbed Four-Year-Old Boy

This article summarizes the treatment of a severely disturbed four-year-old boy who represents the widening scope of child analysis—a boy whose exposure to an array of traumas undermined his ego development, distorted his object relations, and interfered with his developmental progression. Earlier generations of analysts would have viewed such a child as possessing too many ego deviations or deficits to be considered analyzable. Such traditional ideas about analyzability are at odds with more recent research, however. Thus, Fonagy's and Target's (1996 Fonagy, P.. and Target, M. 1996. Predictors of outcome in child psychoanalysis: A retrospective study of 763 cases at the Anna Freud centre. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 44: 27–77. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) research found child analysis to be the optimal treatment for children with severe and complex psychopathology. This article presents analytic material that supports this research and demonstrates (1) that severely disturbed children are analyzable and capable of deep and meaningful change, (2) that early intervention is imperative, (3) that an analytic framework involving four or more sessions per week is essential in containing and regulating affect, (4) how functioning as a developmental object helps build the necessary mental structures to experience conflict, (5) that serving as a developmental object does not have to preclude the development of transference or a psychoanalytic process, and (6) that the analyst's gender can play an important role in promoting development and facilitating treatment.     

Self-Efficacy,Competitiveness, and Effort as Antecedents of Salesperson Performance

This paper posits and tests a model of the individual characteristics of self-efficacy, competitiveness, and effort as potential antecedents of salesperson performance. Based on two studies in different selling contexts, it is observed that whereas effort mediates the relationship between competitiveness and sales performance, self-efficacy has both direct and indirect effects on sales performance. Structural equation modeling results support the proposed model. Implications and conclusions of the studies are presented.     

Communication Media Preferences in Business-To-Business Transactions: An Examination of the Purchase Process

Although communication in marketing has been researched extensively, communication in buyer–seller exchanges during the sales process has received limited attention. This study examines the complexity of information interchange and buyers’ and sellers’ communication preferences for various media types during each stage of the purchase process. Findings reveal that, overall, buyers and sellers prefer face-to-face and telephone communications over other media types. For certain aspects of the sales process, computer-mediated communications, such as e-mail, serve an important role as a lowcost medium, whereas in other phases of the sales process, richer communication media are preferred by both buyers and sellers.     

The Influence of Personal Variables on Salesperson Selling Orientation

Customer oriented selling, defined as practicing the marketing concept at the level of the individual salesperson and customer (Saxe and Weitz 1982), is important in selling situations yet has received relatively little attention from marketers. As such, job tenure, gender, organizational commitment, work involvement, and supervisory support are all examined as potential antecedent variables to customer oriented selling. The study, conducted on two different samples of sales personnel, revealed that organizational commitment is significantly related to selling style. However, the significance of the other variables differed among these two groups, suggesting that the antecedents of a customer oriented selling approach may indeed be product/service specific, job specific, or some combination thereof.