What can we learn from Plausible Values?

In this paper, we show that the marginal distribution of plausible values is a consistent estimator of the true latent variable distribution, and, furthermore, that convergence is monotone in an embedding in which the number of items tends to infinity. We use this result to clarify some of the misconceptions that exist about plausible values, and also show how they can be used in the analyses of educational surveys.     

Brightness differences influence the evaluation of affective pictures

We explored the possibility of a general brightness bias: brighter pictures are evaluated more positively, while darker pictures are evaluated more negatively. In Study 1 we found that positive pictures are brighter than negative pictures in two affective picture databases (the IAPS and the GAPED). Study 2 revealed that because researchers select affective pictures on the extremity of their affective rating without controlling for brightness differences, pictures used in positive conditions of experiments were on average brighter than those used in negative conditions. Going beyond correlational support for our hypothesis, Studies 3 and 4 showed that brighter versions of neutral pictures were evaluated more positively than darker versions of the same picture. Study 5 revealed that people categorised positive words more quickly than negative words after a bright picture prime, and vice versa for negative pictures. Together, these studies provide strong support for the hypotheses that picture brightness influences evaluations.     

Do Narrative Engagement and Recipients’ Thoughts Explain the Impact of an Entertainment-Education Narrative on Discouraging Binge Drinking?

Previous research suggests that narrative engagement (NE) in entertainment-education (E-E) narratives reduces counterarguing, thereby leading to E-E impact on behavior. It is, however, unclear how different NE processes (narrative understanding, attentional focus, emotional engagement, narrative presence) relate to different thought types (negative or positive; about the narrative form or about the target behavior) and to E-E impact. This study explores these relations in the context of alcohol binge drinking (BD). Participants (N = 172) watched an E-E narrative showing negative BD consequences, thereby aiming to discourage BD. The main findings were that the E-E narrative had a positive impact on discouraging BD on almost all assessed BD determinants such as beliefs and attitude. It was shown that attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence were associated with BD-discouraging impact, albeit on different BD-related determinants. No evidence was found that negative thoughts about BD mediated these associations. From this, we conclude that attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence were important for E-E impact but that negative thoughts about BD did not play a role therein. The study’s empirical and practical implications are discussed.     

Emil Kraepelin's dream speech: A psychoanalytic interpretation

Freud's contemporary fellow psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin collected over the course of several decades some 700 specimens of speech in dreams, mostly his own, along with various concomitant data. These generally exhibit far more obvious primary-process influence than do the dream speech specimens found in Freud's corpus; but Kraepelin eschewed any depth-psychology interpretation. In this paper the authors first explore the respective orientations of Freud and Kraepelin to mind and brain, and normal and pathological phenomena, particularly as these relate to speech and dreaming. They then proceed, with the help of biographical sources, to analyze a selection of Kraepelin's deviant dream speech in the manner that was pioneered by Freud, most notably in his 'Autodidasker' dream. They find that Kraepelin's particular concern with the preservation of his rather uncommon family name-and with the preservation of his medical nomenclature, which lent prestige to that name-appears to provide a key link in a chain of associations for elucidating his dream speech specimens. They further suggest, more generally, that one's proper name, as a minimal characteristic of the ego during sleep, may prove to be a key in interpreting the dream speech of others as well.     

Mindfulness and reduced cognitive reactivity to sad mood: Evidence from a correlational study and a non-randomized waiting list controlled study

Cognitive Reactivity (CR) refers to the degree to which a mild dysphoric state reactivates negative thinking patterns, and it has been found to play a key causal role in depressive relapse. Although Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) directly aims to address this mechanism of CR, the relationship between mindfulness and CR has not been tested to date. Using a cross-sectional design (Study 1; n = 164) and a non-randomized waiting list controlled design (Study 2; MBCT [n = 18] vs. waiting list [n = 21]), the authors examined the relationship between naturally occurring levels of mindfulness (Study 1) and MBCT (Study 2) on the one hand, and CR on the other hand. In line with predictions, it was found that (a) trait mindfulness is significantly negatively correlated with CR, even when controlled for current depressive symptoms and prior history of depression (Study 1), and that (b) MBCT, compared to a matched control group, significantly reduces CR, and that this effect of MBCT on reduction of CR is mediated by a positive change in mindfulness skills (Study 2). Results provide first evidence for the claim that mindfulness practices in MBCT are designed to address the process of CR.     

An eye movement analysis system (EMAS) for the identification of cognitive processes on figural tasks

EMAS is a software system (written in VAX-11 FORTRAN) for the analysis of eye movement data recorded during the performance of figural tasks. Its main functions are: (1) Calibration of raw coordinates of eye movements to determine their actual position on the stimulus display. Different kinds of measurement distortion may be corrected. (2) Identification of eye fixations and the determination of their locations and durations. (3) Analysis of fixation sequences. The frequency of transitions of fixations among specified sectors of the stimulus display is computed. A sequential list is made of the successive fixations in which the fixated sector and the fixation duration are graphically indicated. (4) Plotting of raw or calibrated eye movement data and fixation points. The sequence of fixations in specified display sectors can also be plotted in real time. Applications of the programs to the Embedded Figures Test and the Hidden Figures Test are illustrated.     

Modification indices for the 2-PL and the nominal response model

In this paper, it is shown that various violations of the 2-PL model and the nominal response model can be evaluated using the Lagrange multiplier test or the equivalent efficient score test. The tests presented here focus on violation of local stochastic independence and insufficient capture of the form of the item characteristic curves. Primarily, the tests are item-oriented diagnostic tools, but taken together, they also serve the purpose of evaluation of global model fit. A useful feature of Lagrange multiplier statistics is that they are evaluated using maximum likelihood estimates of the null-model only, that is, the parameters of alternative models need not be estimated. As numerical examples, an application to real data and some power studies are presented.     

Asymmetric priming effects in visual processing of occlusion patterns

In three experiments, we examined the effect of temporal context in amodal completion of partly occluded nontarget figures. In a primed same-different task, test pairs were preceded by a sequence of two primes, one of which was a single, the other a composite figure. Single figures reappeared in the composite ones, which also contained a square that could be viewed, alternatively, as an occluder or as yielding a mosaic fit to the other shape. To measure context influences between single and composite figures, both of which were nontargets, we studied their combined effect as primes on the test pairs of the same-different task, expecting that congruency between both primes should lead to a superadditive priming effect on the task. We found that single figures presented first provided facilitatory context for local and global occlusion as well as for mosaic interpretations of subsequently presented composite figures. These effects occurred only when the composite figure was presented briefly (50 msec). No superadditive facilitation occurred when composite figures were presented first and single figures followed them. The restriction of the effect to short presentations and its temporal asymmetry were taken as evidence that prior context biases possible occlusion interpretations during the process of completion, rather than afterward.     

Aging affects both perceptual and lexical/semantic components of word stem priming: An event-related fMRI study

In this event-related fMRI study, brain activity patterns were compared in extensive groups of young (N=25) and older (N=38) adults, while they were performing a word stem completion priming task. Based on behavioral findings, we tested the hypothesis that aging affects only the lexical/semantic, but not the perceptual component of word stem priming. To this end, we distinguished between priming-related activity reductions in posterior regions involved in visual processing, and regions associated with lexical/semantic retrieval processes, i.e., left lateral temporal and left prefrontal regions. Both groups revealed significant priming-related response time reductions. However, in accordance with earlier findings, a larger priming effect was found in the group of young participants. In line with previous imaging studies, the groups showed common priming-related activity reductions in the anterior cingulate, and the left inferior prefrontal cortex extending into the anterior portion of the left superior temporal gyrus, and at lower thresholds also in the right occipital lobe. However, when directly comparing the groups, greater priming-related reductions were found for the young group in the left anterior superior temporal gyrus and the right posterior occipital lobe. These findings suggest that, converse to current psychological views, aging affects both perceptual and lexical/semantic components of repetition priming.     

Facilitation of retrieval by perceptual structure

Summary The effectiveness of a part of a stimulus as a retrieval cue for the whole is investigated in two experiments. Stimuli consisting of a series of eight colored dots were presented for 7s. In Experiment 1, the first three dots of a stimulus made up the cue. A structural compatibility between stimulus and cue was shown to enhance recall. Experiment 2 used only the first dot as a cue for the same stimuli as in Experiment 1 in order to control the possible alternative prediction based on Garner's work that the effect was due to a difference in complexity of stimuli, regardless of compatibility with the cue. The compatibility predictions are derived from a model based on a hierarchy principle by Buffart.