The roles of semantic similarity and proactive interference in the word length effect

We examined the influence of semantic similarity and proactive interference (PI) on the word length effect (WLE) in immediate serial recall. Word length was manipulated by comparing memory for monosyllabic versus multisyllabic words. PI effects were evaluated by manipulating semantic similarity in the to-be-remembered lists and examining its impact on the WLE’s magnitude across eight-trial blocks. Words were sampled from a single semantic category across the entire block, from a single category within the list, or from different categories. Robust WLEs were observed in single-category blocks and when words were from different categories. However, when all the within-list words were from the same semantic category, the WLE was sharply attenuated. Except for the within-list semantic similarity condition, there was a buildup in PI levels in the form of protrusion errors across trials. However, the magnitude of the WLE did not increase with the PI buildup, suggesting that it was not affected by PI across trials.     

Religious identity among Christian Korean-American adolescents

This exploratory study examined religious identity among Christian Korean-American adolescents. Marcia's 1966 model of identity formation, which conceptualizes identity along dimensions of exploration and commitment, provided the framework for the current study. 49 participants, between the ages of 14 and 19 years, completed the Duke Religion Index, the religion items from the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, the Pan-denominational Measure of Personal Devotion and Personal Conservatism, and six questions assessing perceived parental involvement. Analysis indicated that high scores on Organizational and Intrinsic Religiosity were positively correlated with the commitment statuses of Achievement and Foreclosure and negatively correlated with the noncommitment statuses of Moratorium and Diffusion. Also high scores on perceived parental involvement were positively correlated with the nonexploration status of Foreclosure and negatively correlated with the exploration status of Moratorium. Overall, the study provided a general portrait and initial examination of the formation of religious identity in a sample of Christian Korean-American adolescents.     

The future is now: prospective temporal self-appraisals among defensive pessimists and optimists

Three studies found that prospective temporal self-appraisals can be part of defensive pessimists' strategy; they felt closer to equally distant negative than positive futures. In Study 1, defensive pessimists felt closer to future failures and reported more negative affect than those considering success. In Study 2, when manipulated negative futures were close, defensive pessimists felt bad and performed well; results suggested that viewing negative futures as close may be part of their natural strategy. Study 3 found that prospective self-appraisals influenced performances through felt preparation. Optimists did not use prospective self-appraisals (Study 1) and their performances were unaffected by manipulated temporal distance (Studies 2 and 3). Discussion centers on prospective self-appraisals and multiple strategies of defensive pessimists.     

Establishing the feasibility of direct observation in the assessment of tics in children with chronic tic disorders

Behavior analysis has been at the forefront in establishing effective treatments for children and adults with chronic tic disorders. As is customary in behavior analysis, the efficacy of these treatments has been established using direct-observation assessment methods. Although behavior-analytic treatments have enjoyed acceptance and integration into mainstream health care practices for tic disorders (e.g., psychiatry and neurology), the use of direct observation as a primary assessment tool has been neglected in favor of less objective methods. Hesitation to use direct observation appears to stem largely from concerns about the generalizability of clinic observations to other settings (e.g., home) and a lack of consensus regarding the most appropriate and feasible techniques for conducting and scoring direct observation. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate and establish a reliable, valid, and feasible direct-observation protocol capable of being transported to research and clinical settings. A total of 43 children with tic disorders, collected from two outpatient specialty clinics, were assessed using direct (videotape samples) and indirect (Yale Global Tic Severity Scale; YGTSS) methods. Videotaped observation samples were collected across 3 consecutive weeks and two different settings (clinic and home), were scored using both exact frequency counts and partial-interval coding, and were compared to data from a common indirect measure of tic severity (the YGTSS). In addition, various lengths of videotaped segments were scored to determine the optimal observation length. Results show that (a) clinic-based observations correspond well to home-based observations, (b) brief direct-observation segments scored with time-sampling methods reliably quantified tics, and (c) indirect methods did not consistently correspond with the direct methods.     

Early changes in muscle activation patterns of toddlers during walking

Early locomotor behavior has been the focus of considerable attention by developmentalists over several decades. Few studies have addressed explicitly patterns of muscle activity that underlie this coordination pattern. Our purposes were to illustrate a method to determine objectively the onset and offset of muscle firings during early walking and to investigate the emergence of patterns of activation of the core locomotor muscles. We tested eight toddlers as they walked overground at walking onset (max. of 3-6 independent steps) and after three months of walking experience. Surface electrodes monitored activity of the gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior, quadriceps, and hamstrings. We reduced EMG signals to a frame-by-frame designation of "on-off," followed by muscle state and co-contraction analyses, and probability distributions for each muscle's activity across multiple cycles. Our results clearly show that at walking onset muscle activity was highly variable with few, if any, muscles showing recurring patterns of behavior, within or among toddlers. Variability and co-activation decreased with walking experience but remained inconsistent, in contrast to the significant increase in stability shown for joint coordination and endpoint (foot placement) parameters. We propose this trend emerges because of the high number of options (muscle combinations) available. Toddlers learn first to marshal sufficient force to balance and make forward progress but slowly discover how to optimize these resources.     

Category and feature identification

This paper considers a family of inductive problems where reasoners must identify familiar categories or features on the basis of limited information. Problems of this kind are encountered, for example, when word learners acquire novel labels for pre-existing concepts. We develop a probabilistic model of identification and evaluate it in three experiments. Our first two experiments explore problems where a single category or feature must be identified, and our third experiment explores cases where participants must combine several pieces of information in order to simultaneously identify a category and a feature. Humans readily solve all of these problems, and we show that our model accounts for human inferences better than several alternative approaches.     

Design-Based Guidelines for the Semantic Perception of Emergency Signs

The current study applies semantic differential to explore the semantic perception of emergency signs, in an attempt to analyze the meanings of emergency signs in regard to the psychological exigencies of the general public. The results indicate that problems concerning recognition accuracy have been observed, but also that the evaluation of the semantic meaning of the signs is positive. However, a number of emotional factors also emerge, indicating that if improvements should be made to the existing emergency signs, it would better facilitate evacuation in the event of an emergency. As for the design guidelines, the emergency signs should be readily recognizable and have a single meaning. Multiple symbolic meanings should be eliminated. Concrete design guidelines include: (a) safety movement, (b) clarity, and (c) safety. To avoid confusion in sign recognition, in addition to the improvements made based on the abovementioned guidelines, educational promotional activities carried out by the government would also prove very beneficial.     

Kinetics of photoinduced changes in Ag nanoparticles deposited on an indium tin oxide surface

An enhancement of the UV-visible optical absorption spectra of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) surfaces of different resistance by a seed-mediated growth technique is presented. A bicolour coherent beam, obtained from a pulsed Nd:YAG laser providing a 1060-nm fundamental wavelength and a double-frequency one at 530?nm, was used. A significant change in the optical density is observed for Ag NPs on low-resistance ITO surfaces (≈4?Ω/square), while almost nothing occurs with high-resistance (≈50?Ω/square surfaces). The spectral position of the maximal absorption at 440?nm is almost preserved in both cases. This result is explained in terms of a local photoinduced static field and surface-plasmon polaritons interacting with photoexcited phonons. A grating effect, arising from the coherent bicolour light forming a superstructure as for quantum crystals, could be another contribution.     

Deliberate Numerical Discrepancy of Generation in the Genealogy of Matthew

In the genealogy of Matthew, there is a numerical ‘discrepancy’ between the actual totals of generations (fourteen, fourteen, and thirteen) recorded in Matthew 1:12-16 and the stated totals (fourteen, fourteen, and fourteen) in 1:17.

This paper argues that Matthew's genealogy is devised by inserting breaks based on the pattern and concept of Chronicles in order to convey the unique Matthean message. This argument will be defended by showing the similarities between Chronicles and Matthew: (1) Matthew follows the Chronicler by putting the genealogy at the beginning of the whole book as an introduction to convey the Matthean messages; (2) by combining concepts of kingship and priesthood; (3) by mentioning ‘the sons of Israel’ and ‘all Israel’; (4) by including Gentiles; (5) by using retribution theology; (6) by employing intensification in his chiastic genealogical structure; (7) Matthewâ..s omission of several kings is in line with the Chronicler's ideology of cultic-oriented kingship; (8) Matthew shares the Chronicler's point of view that Judah's deportation to Babylon does not invalidate Yahweh's promise for the Davidic kingdom. Thus, the apparent numerical ‘discrepancy’ is deliberately devised by the Matthean author, just as the Chronicler uses the numerical discrepancy to highlight his emphases in the genealogies.