Internet and the support of psychology education

The Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI) Centre for Psychology has been promoting the use of computers in psychology education for the last 5 years. The advent of the Internet and ubiquitous access to the World-Wide Web has the potential to revolutionize the way the teaching and learning of psychology can be supported. This paper describes how we are using the Web to support psychology education through information dissemination, through the provision of teaching resources, and through facilities for communication.     

Influence of hedonic tone on lexical decisions

A lexical decision task was used to investigate the effect of a word’s hedonic tone on decision time. Thirty words, varying in degrees of pleasantness, were randomly presented with 30 nonwords, half of which were pronounceable and half not. It was demonstrated that decision times for the pleasant words were significantly faster than for the unpleasant words. The two types of nonwords were also found to differ: Decision times for the pronounceable nonwords were significantly slower than for the nonpronounceables. Results are discussed in the light of previous work in both memory and perception. The utility of the lexical decision task for relevant future research is also considered. Part of the work reported in this paper was supported by North East London Polytechnic as partial fulfillment of the requirements for a higher degree (C.N.A.A.).     

Scalar timing without reference memory? Episodic temporal generalization and bisection in humans

Three experiments tested whether the scalar property of timing could occur when humans timed short durations under conditions in which it was unlikely that they developed reference memories of temporal "standards". Experiment 1 used an episodic version of a temporal generalization task where judgements were made of the potential equality of two durations presented on each trial. Unknown to the subject, one of these was always 200, 400, 600, or 800 ms, and the other was of variable duration. Temporal generalization gradients showed the scalar property of superimposition at standard values greater than 200 ms. Experiment 2 used a variant of the "roving bisection" method invented by Rodriguez-Girones and Kacelnik (1998) modified so that the scalar property of timing could be observed empirically. Data from bisection with short/long standard pairs of 100/400, 200/800, and 300/1,200 ms showed nearly perfect scalar-type superimposition. Experiment 3 again used episodic temporal generalization, but durations were never repeated and came from three distinct time ranges. Superimposition was found across these ranges except for the shortest visual stimuli timed. The data suggested that scalar timing could occur in humans in conditions where the formation of reference memories of temporal standards was highly improbable.     

The effects of threatened social evaluation of the physique on cortisol activity

Social self preservation theory asserts that situations high in social-evaluative threat elicit increases in cortisol, a hormone released by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Most tests of the theory have examined threats associated with social evaluation of a performance. Two experiments examined the effects of threatened social evaluation of one's physique. In Experiments 1 (n?=?50) and 2 (n?=?40), participants allocated to an experimental (threat) condition had significantly higher post-manipulation cortisol than participants in a control (no threat) condition. In Experiment 1, perceptions of social-evaluative threat were significantly correlated with post-manipulation cortisol levels. These results suggest that the threatened social evaluation of one's body can activate the cortisol response. Women who frequently experience such threats may be at increased risk for a variety of health conditions associated with chronic cortisol exposure.     

“With the Game on His Stick”: The home (dis)advantage in National Hockey League shootouts

ObjectivesTo determine whether a home advantage or disadvantage is evident in loss and win-imminent situations within National Hockey League (NHL) shootouts.DesignArchival.MethodShooting percentages were analyzed from the 2006–2011 NHL seasons and shots were classified as: loss-imminent (when a miss results in a loss for the shooter's team); win-imminent (when a goal results in a win for the shooter's team); or non-outcome-imminent (when a miss or goal does not immediately determine the outcome of the game).ResultsA home advantage was evident in loss-imminent situations when a team needed to score to avoid a loss. By contrast, a home disadvantage was evident in win-imminent situations when a team was shooting to win.ConclusionThe home (dis)advantage varies across different outcome-imminent situations. Comparing home and away teams' success in specific situations within a sporting match may be a valuable way of assessing the home (dis)advantage in sports.     

Application of the limited strength model of self-regulation to understanding exercise effort,planning and adherence

The limited strength model posits that self-regulatory strength is a finite, renewable resource that is drained when people attempt to regulate their emotions, thoughts or behaviours. The purpose of this study was to determine whether self-regulatory depletion can explain lapses in exercise effort, planning and adherence. In a lab-based experiment, participants exposed to a self-regulatory depletion manipulation generated lower levels of work during a 10 min bicycling task, and planned to exert less effort during an upcoming exercise bout, compared with control participants. The magnitude of reduction in planned exercise effort predicted exercise adherence over a subsequent 8-week period. Together, these results suggest that self-regulatory depletion can influence exercise effort, planning and decision-making and that the depletion of self-regulatory resources can explain episodes of exercise non-adherence both in the lab and in everyday life.     

Two developmental transitions in selective remembering strategies

Two experiments were reported investigating developmental changes in the use of strategies to eliminate interference from irrelevant information in memory. The participants in the first were 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children and those in the second were adults. In both experiments a directed forgetting paradigm was used in which the person was presented two sets of pictures but only recalled one set on a trial. On some trials there was a cue to forget the first set and to remember only the second set. There were two developmental transitions. The first was from ineffective to effective selective remembering which occurred between 7 and 11 years of age. The second, which occurred between 11 years of age and adulthood, was from the use of selective retrieval strategy to a more sophisticated rehearsal strategy. The implications of these two developmental transitions were discussed.     

Controlled forgetting in the retarded

Three experiments investigated selective rehearsal by retardates in a serial memory task which was an adaptation of Bjork's (1970) paradigm involving instructions to forget a subset of the material presented. Since previous research indicated that retarded children do not selectively rehearse, and since Bjork's paradigm requires the use of a selective rehearsal strategy, it seemed likely that retardates would fail in this task. Experiment 1 showed that retardates could perform this task, and there was substantial evidence for cumulative rehearsal. The possibility of an averaging artifact in the data of Expt 1 was eliminated in Expt 2 by showing evidence of primacy and facilitation due to the forget instruction for individual Ss. Experiment 3 indicated that the facilitation due to the forget instruction was likely due to the effective use of a selective rehearsal strategy. These results contrast with other findings of no rehearsal in retarded children. It is suggested that response biases may be involved in previous studies of rehearsal.