Further evidence for systematic reliability differences between explicit and implicit memory tests

Meier and Perrig (2000) as well as Buchner and Wippich (2000) have shown that simple dissociations between explicit and implicit memory measures need not reflect functional dissociations of hypothetical underlying memory systems. Instead, such dissociations may also result from the fact that some widely used implicit memory measures are simply less reliable than the explicit measures with which they have been compared. We extend this argument in two ways. First, we show that illusion-based memory measures such as the priming measures derived from fame andpreference judgement tasks are also subject to the reliability problem. Second, we show that yes-no and two-alternative forced-choice paradigms should, and in fact do, yield virtually identical results as far as the reliability of the memory tests is concerned.     

How do I Analyze Thee? Let Me Count the Ways: Considering Empathy in Couple Relationships using Self and Partner Ratings

In this article we describe some of the benefits and challenges of using self ratings and ratings of the partner to measure empathy and similar terms in couple research. If both members of the dyad are assessed, there will be four measures of the same variable. How to use these 4 measures in research and clinical work is a central question in this paper. We demonstrate 3 different latent models that can be used to analyze these ratings based on different theoretical premises. Using empathy as the independent variable with a longitudinal sample of 275 couples, structural equation models are used to evaluate the strength of these models in predicting relationship satisfaction. The findings indicate that the model that is consistent with the social constructionist perspective that focuses on the perceptions within the same person is a good fit to the data. Other models that compare ratings between members of the dyad do not fit the data well. The results demonstrate that perceptions of empathy do have a significant influence on relationship satisfaction across time, especially for females. However, it is largely males' perceptions of empathy of the self and the partner that influence relationship satisfaction for females.     

Auditory phonemic perception in dyslexia: Categorical identification and discrimination of stop consonants

The possibility that phonological confusions may underlie some difficulties in processing written language was investigated using four speech perception tasks. Twelve dyslexic and four normal-reading children identified and discriminated synthetic speech syllables which varied either in voice-onset time (signaling the feature of voicing) or direction of formant transitions (signaling place of articulation). Results indicate that, like normal-reading children and adults, dyslexic children perceive these sounds categorically. Discrimination of the stimuli was limited by their identifiability. It is suggested that linguistic disturbances at other stages of the grapheme to meaning transformation underlie misreading.     

Exploring Counselor-Client Agreement on Clients’ Work Capacity in Established and Consultative Dyads

Counselor-client agreement on the work capacity of clients living with serious mental illnesses informs the counseling relationship and facilitates accurate assessments of client eligibility for public programs. In this exploratory mixed-methods study, we assessed counselor-client agreement on clients’ work capacity in 61 established therapeutic dyads and compared it with 30 dyads involved in an initial assessment session. Intraclass correlation coefficients and mountain plots were used to examine counselor-client agreement. Results revealed moderate counselor-client agreement of work capacity for both dyads. Counselor interviews illuminated sources of discordance. These results have practical implications for assessing the work capacity of clients.     

Sellars and Quine on empiricism and conceptual truth1

I compare Sellars’s criticism of the ‘myth of the given’ with Quine’s criticism of the ‘two dogmas’ of empiricism, that is, the analytic–synthetic distinction and reductionism. In Sections I to III, I present Quine’s and Sellars’s views. In IV to X, I discuss similarities and differences in their views. In XI to XII, I show that Sellars’s arguments against the ‘myth of the given’ are incompatible with Quine’s rejection of the analytic–synthetic distinction.     

Multiple imitation mechanisms in children

Four studies using a computerized paradigm investigated whether children's imitation performance is content-specific and to what extent dependent on other cognitive processes such as trial-and-error learning, recall, and observational learning. Experiment 1 showed that 3-year-olds could successfully imitate what we call novel cognitive rules (e.g., first → second → third), which involved responding to 3 different pictures whose spatial configuration varied randomly from trial to trial. However, these same children failed to imitate what we call novel motor-spatial rules (e.g., up → down → right), which involved responding to 3 identical pictures that remained in a fixed spatial configuration from trial to trial. Experiment 2 showed that this dissociation was not due to a general difficulty in encoding motor-spatial content, as children successfully recalled, following a 30-s delay, a new motor-spatial sequence that had been learned by trial and error. Experiment 3 replicated these results and further demonstrated that 3-year-olds can infer a novel motor-spatial sequence following observation of a partially correct and partially incorrect response-a dissociation between imitation and observational learning (or emulation learning). Finally, Experiment 4 presented 3-year-olds with "familiar" motor-spatial sequences that involved making a linear response (e.g., left → middle → right) as well as "novel" motor-spatial sequences (e.g., right → up → down) used in Experiments 1-3 that were nonlinear and always involved a change in direction. Children had no difficulty imitating familiar motor-spatial sequences but again failed to imitate novel motor-spatial sequences. These results suggest that there may be multiple, dissociable imitation learning mechanisms that are content-specific. More importantly, the development of these imitation systems appears to be independent of the operations of other cognitive systems, including trial and error learning, recall, and observational learning.