Cerebral hemispheric mechanisms linking ambiguous word meaning retrieval and creativity

The deferral of ambiguity resolution has been thought to be an important component of creativity. The time course of priming of dominant and subordinate meanings of ambiguous words was investigated using a divided visual field priming paradigm with subjects that varied on a measure of creativity. The Wallach-Kogan similarities subtest was used to group 72 subjects into three levels of verbal creativity to compare their performance on the ambiguity resolution task (Burgess & Simpson, 1988a). Results suggest that both the left and right hemispheres contribute to the maintenance of multiple word meanings in highly creative subjects, while less creative subjects show sustained subordinate priming only in the right hemisphere or no sustained subordinate priming. These results support an interactive, collaborative theory of verbal creativity (Bogen & Bogen, 1969) and suggest that there are important individual differences that expand on the basic time course model of hemispheric processing (Burgess & Simpson, 1988a).     

The development of anti-litter behavior in a forest campground

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an incentive procedure designed to induce litter collection in a large forest campground. Children in the campground were offered their choice of a variety of reinforcers for picking up and properly disposing of litter. The procedure resulted in a sharp decline in four types of litter planted in the campground.     

The effect of viewing distance on empirical discriminability and the confidence–accuracy relationship for eyewitness identification

The distance from which an eyewitness views a perpetrator is a critical factor for eyewitness identification, but has received little research attention. We presented three mock-crime videos to participants, varying distance to three perpetrators (3, 10, or 20 m). Across two experiments, increased distance reduced empirical discriminability in the form of a mirror effect, such that correct identifications decreased while false identifications increased. Moreover, high confidence identifications were associated with high accuracy at 3 m (Experiment 1 and 2) and 10 m (Experiment 2), but not at 20 m. We conclude that eyewitnesses may be less likely to identify a perpetrator viewed at a distance, and also more likely to falsely identify an innocent suspect. Furthermore, there may be certain boundary conditions associated with distance and the impact it has on the confidence–accuracy relationship. More research is needed to elucidate the effect of estimator variable manipulations on the confidence–accuracy relationship.     

Men and women at work: Similarities and differences in work values within occupational groupings

This paper presents national survey data regarding the work-related values of male and female labor force participants. Evidence is also presented concerning the relationship of family responsibilities to the work values of women. The empirical analysis derives in part from the recent work of Kaufman and Fetters (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1980, 17, 251–262), the quality of work literature, and the literature on women and work. The hypotheses include expected work-value differences between men and women within occupational categories and the expected relationships between the presence of children in the home and the value attached to various aspects of work. Five job dimensions are considered: intrinsic, extrinsic, resource adequacy, convenience, and relations with co-workers. The only male-female value difference that appears to be enduring concerns the convenience aspects of work. Data indicate that the presence of children in the home, whether of preschool age, school age, or a combination of the two, tends to be negatively related to most work values of women. It is concluded that working women with children experience reduced work involvement.     

Aging and visual search: automatic and controlled attentional bias to threat faces

Using a visual search paradigm, we investigated how age affected attentional bias to emotional facial expressions. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants searched for a discrepant facial expression in a matrix of otherwise homogeneous faces. Both younger and older adults showed a more effective search when the discrepant face was angry rather than happy or neutral. However, when the angry faces served as non-target distractors, younger adults' search was less effective than happy or neutral distractor conditions. In contrast, older adults showed a more efficient search with angry distractors than happy or neutral distractors, indicating that older adults were better able to inhibit angry facial expressions. In Experiment 3, we found that even a top-down search goal could not override the angry face superiority effect in guiding attention. In addition, RT distribution analyses supported that both younger and older adults performed the top-down angry face search qualitatively differently from the top-down happy face search. The current research indicates that threat face processing involves automatic attentional shift and a controlled attentional process. The current results suggest that age only influenced the controlled attentional process.