Cue set size effects: Sampling activated associates or cross-target interference?

Previous findings indicate that test cues linked to more associates (more knowledge) produce lower levels of recall than cues with fewer associates. One hypothesis attributes this effect to cross-target interference arising during retrieval on the assumption that cues with more associates are more likely to be indirectly connected to studied words other than the target. Another attributes the effect to sampling associates of the cue on the assumption that the probability of sampling the target declines as more associates are activated. Findings from four experiments showed that recall varied with cue set size, and, more importantly, that cue set size affected recall independently of the interference produced by cross-target connections. These results were interpreted as supporting a model that attributes cue set size effects to sampling processes associated with the intersection of the test cue and its associates with the target and its associates.     

Change and continuity in neurobehavioral development: lessons from the study of neurobiology and neural plasticity

The goal of this paper is to discuss our current understanding of change and continuity in neurobehavioral development. After describing the basic elements of neurobiological development, attention is focused on the myriad of ways experience influences the developing and developed brain. This literature is used to illustrate the complexity of both brain and behavioral development in the context of change and continuity. The implications of considering brain/behavior relations in the context of development comprise the final section of the paper.     

Gender-Related Knowledge Variations Within Geography

In a survey of students from junior high through the undergraduate college level, males consistently out-performed females on a test covering map skills and physical, human, and regional aspects of geography. The gender gap was consistent across all four subfields. It widened with increased education and was significant even after accounting for numerous personal information items that might have explained the difference. This consistent performance difference involving the broad spectrum of geographic knowledge argues against explaining the gender gap as symptomatic of differences in a single underlying factor such as map skills or spatial abilities. Knowledge-based and nonknowledge-based explanations for the gender difference are discussed.     

One step is not enough: Making better use of association norms to predict cued recall

Cued recall is strongly affected by the strength of the preexisting connection between the test cue and the information to be recalled, the target. In all past work, preexisting cue-to-target strength has been measured by the probability that the cue produced the target in free association. This paper presents four experiments showing that this use of such norms underestimates the strength of the connection and that a more accurate estimate can be obtained by incorporating indirect as well as direct connections in the estimate. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that in extralist cued recall both the strength and number of two-step indirect connections facilitate recall. Experiment 3 showed that three-step connections have negligible effects. Experiment 4 used an intralist task in which cue and target are first studied together, and the results showed once again that indirect connections can affect recall. In all of these experiments, indirect connections had an effect on recall that was larger when direct cue-to-target strength was weak than when it was strong. Implications for using association norms in research are described, and an algorithm for using association norms to measure cueto-target strength is proposed.     

Differential Effects of Global Ischemia on Delayed Matching- and Non-Matching-to-Position Tasks in the Water Maze and Skinner Box

In order to assess effects of global ischemia in tasks of spatial learning and working memory, male Wistar rats were subjected to four vessel occlusion (4 VO) for periods of 5, 10, and 20 min and compared with sham-operated controls over four test phases, from 6 to 54 weeks after surgery. Rats were assessed on acquisition in the water maze, a task that is sensitive to ischemic impairments, before testing in Skinner box and water maze working memory tasks, which both require the short-term storage of information, but make different demands on spatial information processing. Phases 1 and 3 assessed spatial learning in a standard water maze procedure (12 and 10 training days, 2 trials/day with a 10-min intertrial interval: ITI). Phase 2 involved training and testing in delayed non-matching-to-position task in the Skinner box, with delays of 2–10 s between the information and choice stages. Phase 4 examined working memory in a water maze delayed matching-to-position task with 4 trials/day, an ITI of 30 s, and a novel platform position on each day. Ischemic rats showed duration-related impairments in water maze acquisition and working memory, but not in the less spatially demanding Skinner box task. Since water maze acquisition deficits were seen both before and after testing in the Skinner box the lack of effect cannot be attributed to time or to prior training. Ischemic deficits were more marked in Phase 3 than in Phase 1 of acquisition, suggesting that impairment may be progressive. Histological assessment showed that cell loss was largely confined to the hippocampal CA1 field and was linearly related to duration of occlusion. At the maximal level of loss (5.7 mm before the interaural line) the 20-min group showed 90% loss, the 10-min group 60% loss, and the 5-min group, which did not differ from controls, less than 10% loss. Only the 20-min group showed significant damage beyond the CA1 field, ranging from 30–40% loss in the CA3 field to 5% loss in one striatal area. No cortical damage was seen. The extent of CA1 cell loss correlated modestly with water maze acquisition (Phase 3) and working memory scores, but not with trials to criterion in the Skinner box task. There were significant correlations between different measures both within and between water maze tasks, but not Skinner box tasks, suggesting that the two types of procedure engaged different cognitive processes. The results indicate that the intrahippocampal damage induced by 4 VO impaired tasks which required processing of allocentric spatial information, but did not impair the storage of limited spatial information in working memory.     

Ideal antecedent criteria variables in psychotherapy: A proposed solution to the irregular effects phenomenon

The concept of antecedent criteria variables is introduced as a means of understanding the conditions necessary for the development of psychotherapy. Previous psychotherapy research is criticized for its failure to define the criteria variables essential for the evolution of the necessary and sufficient factors that would determine if psychotherapy is occurring. In order to test the hypothesis that antecedent criteria variables are important, a questionnaire was mailed to 1600 practicing psychotherapists. From the 545 questionnaires returned, the data indicates that psychotherapists consider the concept important, although the application of the criteria is somewhat irregular. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications for future clinical research.     

The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: How well can it measure depressive thinking?

The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) was designed to measure patterns of maladaptive thinking held by depressed individuals. Despite its wide use as a research and clinical tool, only a few studies to date were designed to examine its psychometric properties in a clinically depressed population. Moreover, problems of low sample size and limited tests of validity call these findings into question. The present study was designed to examine psychometric properties of the DAS in clinically depressed inpatients and in nondepressed clinical controls. Intertest correlations between the DAS parallel forms and between each form with total test scores ranged from r=.84 to r=.97. Intratest stability coefficients were r=.88 to r=.97. Support for the DAS as a valid measure of dysfunctional cognitions in depressed patients was also indicated. Of those scoring high on the DAS, 73% received an independent RDC diagnosis of clinical depression, while only 36% of those receiving low DAS scores were so diagnosed.     

Sexual harassment on campus: Effects of professor gender on perception of sexually harassing behaviors

Undergraduate students viewed four videotaped vignettes that depicted potentially sexually harassing interactions between professors and students. Subjects were asked to evaluate the professor's behavior. The vignettes were composed so that two dimensions were manipulated: the sex of the initiator of the behavior and the type of behavior. Results of the study provided partial support of the following hypotheses: (1) the behaviors of female professors initiating potentially sexually harassing behaviors toward male students would be perceived as more appropriate than would the same behaviors initiated by male professors toward female students in identical situations; (2) female subjects would interpret the behaviors as more harassing than male subjects; and finally (3) subtle forms of harassment would be interpreted as more inappropriate by female students than by male students.     

Comparison and expectancy processes in human judgment

This work explored a judgment model proposed by Manis and Paskewitz (1984a). The model suggests that prior experience with the members of a given category affects the assessment of other category members in 2 ways: (a) by providing a basis for comparison and (b) by leading the judge to expect that new exemplars will resemble those previously encountered. In 4 experiments, respondents judged the height of different people on the basis of full-length photographs. The height of the models in an induction series constituted the main independent variable. The effects of contrasting inductions (e.g., short vs. tall women) affected the judges' subsequent assessments in a test series. Both comparison and expectancy processes played a significant role, sometimes opposing one another and sometimes acting in parallel (i.e., supporting one another).     

Perceived control,causality, expectations and help-seeking behaviour

Undergraduates recruited from an introductory psychology course who were currently not seeking professional help (n=81) were compared with a comparable sample seeking professional help at a university psychological services centre (n=53). Participants answered an assessment instrument with reference to the problem currently upsetting them most. As hypothesized, those students seeking help tended to internalize causality, report lower levels of perceived control over their problems, and consider themselves more likely to expend time and energy in resolving their problem. Contrary to expectations, the groups did not differ in optimism about problem resolution. Results from an exploratory analysis of perceptions about the nature of professional and non-professional help are also reported. The findings, consistent with previous research, underscore the importance of differentiating the constructs of locus of control, causal attributions, and perceived control in studying mediators of help-seeking behaviour.