Repetition priming of face recognition

Three experiments investigating the priming of the recognition of familiar faces are reported. In Experiment 1, recognizing the face of a celebrity in an “Is this face familiar?” task was primed by exposure several minutes earlier to a different photograph of the same person, but not by exposure to the person's written name (a partial replication of Bruce and Valentine, 1985). In Experiment 2, recognizing the face of a personal acquaintance was again primed by recognizing a different photograph of their face, but not by recognizing the acquaintance from that person's body shape, clothes etc. Experiment 3 showed that maximum repetition priming is obtained from prior exposure to an identical photograph of a famous face, less from a similar photograph, and least (but still significant) from a dissimilar photograph.

We argue that repetition priming is a function of the degree of physical similarity between two stimuli and that lack of priming between different stimulus types (e.g., written names and faces, or bodies and faces) may be attributable to lack of physical similarity between prime and test stimuli. Repetition priming effects may be best explained by some form of “instance-based” model such as that proposed by McClelland and Rumelhart (1985).     

Personality, Social Networks, and Perceived Social Support among Alcoholics: A Structural Equation Analysis

ABSTRACT In this study we tested relations among personality characteristics, social network properties, and perceived social support both concurrently and prospectively. A sample of 294 men in treatment at a Department of Veterans Affairs Alcohol Treatment Unit was assessed during treatment and 3 months after discharge. Results of the cross-sectional structural equation analyses indicated that the personality characteristics of extraversion and neu-roticism were related to both social network properties and perceived social support. Characteristics of the alcoholic's social network were also related to perceived availability of support. Longitudinal analyses of perceived social support after treatment indicated that two social network properties (size of the network and the proportion of confidants) were predictive net of initial levels of social support. Extraversion and neuroticism were found to be indi-rectly related to perceived social support at Time 2 through their effects on social network properties and perceived social support during treatment. Implications of these findings for models of the nature and determinants of perceived social support are discussed.     

The Absence of Practice Effects on a Forced-Choice Temporal Order Judgment Task

The encoding of temporal order information improves with practice (Zacks, Hasher, Alba, Sanft, & Rose, 1984), but this improvement may be a result of task performance factors and may have little or nothing to do with encoding phenomena. In the present study, a forced-choice recency discrimination procedure was used to obviate the use of retrieval/performance strategies on the temporal order test. No improvement in temporal order judgments was observed.     

THE DEPENDENCY NEEDS AND PERCEIVED AVAILABILITY AND ADEQUACY OF RELATIONSHIPS IN FEMALE ADOLESCENT SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS

Traditional theories about female adolescent suicide attempters view them as experiencing difficulty in achieving adequate separation-individuation. However, recent work on female adolescence suggests that achieving greater interdependency within relationships rather than increased independence from them is an important goal for nonclinical nonsuicidal female adolescents. We investigated both dependency needs and the perceived availability and adequacy of relationships in 21 female adolescent attempters and 23 nonattempters. Dependency needs did not significantly differentiate suicide attempters from nonattempters. Attempters, however, did report both a smaller social network and fewer intimate relationships than nonattempters, as well as less satisfaction with these relationships. These preliminary results suggest that more research is required to establish whether dependency needs are indeed causally related to the female adolescents' suicide attempts. Future research should also investigate other risk factors such as relational dissatisfaction, familial suicide attempts, and abuse.     

Mediators of Posttraumatic Mental Health in Sexual Assault Survivors

The development of posttraumatic growth (PTG) and the relationship between PTG and distress outcomes in sexual assault is an important area of investigation. Recent research suggests that some forms of cognitive processing might be critical in the development, maintenance, and resolution of posttraumatic mental health among sexual assault survivors. The objective of this study was to examine factors associated with posttraumatic mental health among sexual assault survivors. Seventy-three participants who experienced sexual assault completed measures of trauma symptoms, PTG, changes in outlook, cognitive processing, and support and coping. Results revealed that significant levels of posttraumatic symptomatology and low levels of PTG were reported 3 years following sexual assault. A weak relationship was found between symptoms of distress and growth. Contrary to predictions, only ratings of hope and brooding rumination were mediators of the relationship between posttraumatic symptoms and PTG. Reflective rumination was not related to the development of PTG.     

Complainant’s physical attractiveness and juristic judgments of blame and punishment in physical,domestic, and sexual assault scenarios

ABSTRACT

Extralegal factors, including physical attractiveness, may bias juristic opinions. The present study provided 450 university students with hypothetical scenarios of physical, domestic, and sexual assault in which complainant’s attractiveness and other legal and extralegal characteristics were independently varied. Results indicate complainant’s attractiveness mattered in sexual assault scenarios only for guilt of the defendant, but not for physical or domestic assault. Complainant’s attractiveness was not related to perceptions of blameworthiness of complainant or punishment of defendant. Overall, legal factors of injury level, prior offending, and intoxication mattered more than attractiveness or race of the victim. Implications are discussed.     

The role of pattern recognition in children's exact enumeration of small numbers

Enumeration can be accomplished by subitizing, counting, estimation, and combinations of these processes. We investigated whether the dissociation between subitizing and counting can be observed in 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds and studied whether the maximum number of elements that can be subitized changes with age. To detect a dissociation between subitizing and counting, it is tested whether task manipulations have different effects in the subitizing than in the counting range. Task manipulations concerned duration of presentation of elements (limited, unlimited) and configuration of elements (random, line, dice). In Study 1, forty‐nine 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds were tested with a computerized enumeration task. Study 2 concerned data from 4‐, 5‐, and 6‐year‐olds, collected with Math Garden, a computer‐adaptive application to practice math. Both task manipulations affected performance in the counting, but not the subitizing range, supporting the conclusion that children use two distinct enumeration processes in the two ranges. In all age groups, the maximum number of elements that could be subitized was three. The strong effect of configuration of elements suggests that subitizing might be based on a general ability of pattern recognition.