Graduate student WAIS-III scoring accuracy is a function of full scale IQ and complexity of examiner tasks

Research on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) suggests that practicing clinical psychologists and graduate students make item-level scoring errors that affect IQ, index, and subtest scores. Studies have been limited in that Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) and examiner administration, recording, and scoring tasks have not been systematically varied. In this study, graduate student participants score a high (FSIQ = 112) and low (FSIQ = 85) IQ record form in one of two stimulus conditions: digitized film clips (N = 13) or partially completed record forms (N = 11). Results demonstrate that examiners are less accurate in the high IQ condition, and that recording examinee responses from scoring video clips results in more scoring errors. Obtained FSIQs are significantly higher than criterion IQ scores in the high IQ condition (8.46 for video condition, 2.55 for record form condition). Self-reported proficiency in WAIS-III administration and scoring is positively related to number of scoring errors.     

Response-response compatibility during bimanual movements: Evidence for the conceptual coding of action

The present study investigated response-response (R-R) compatibility in a bimanual keypressing task. Numeric and spatial stimuli were used to cue responses for each hand. Two groups of participants differed in terms of the stimulus-response mappings for the numeric stimuli. For one group, the numeric stimuli were mapped so that the same number for each hand indicated responses that were anatomically compatible (e.g., index finger of both hands). For the other group, the same number for each hand indicated responses that were left-right compatible (e.g., leftmost finger of both hands). The spatial stimuli were mapped in a spatially compatible manner to the responses for both groups. For numeric stimuli, reaction times (RTs) were faster when the same number indicated the response for each hand, regardless of the mapping. For the spatial stimuli, RTs were determined not only by the pairing of stimuli or responses, but also by how the responses were indicated by numeric stimuli. The results indicate that R-R compatibility effects are mediated by abstract codes that reflect individuals’ conceptualizations of their actions.     

Embedded figures detection in autism and typical development: preliminary evidence of a double dissociation in relationships with visual search

Individuals with autism show relatively strong performance on tasks that require them to identify the constituent parts of a visual stimulus. This is assumed to be the result of a bias towards processing the local elements in a display that follows from a weakened ability to integrate information at the global level. The results of the current study showed that, among children with autism, ability to locate a figure embedded in a larger stimulus was only related to performance on visual search trials where the target was identified by a unique perceptual feature. In contrast, control children's embedded figures performance was specifically related to their performance on visual search trials where the target was defined by a conjunction of features. This double dissociation suggests that enhanced performance on perceptual tasks by children with autism is not simply a consequence of a quantitative difference in ability to engage in global processing.     

ProtoMatch: a tool for analyzing high-density, sequential eye gaze and cursor protocols

ProtoMatch is a software tool for integrating and analyzing fixed-location and movement eye gaze and cursor data. It provides a comprehensive collection of protocol analysis tools that support sequential data analyses for eye fixations and scanpaths as well as for cursor “fixations” (dwells at one location) and “cursorpaths” (movements between locations). ProtoMatch is modularized software that integrates both eye gaze and cursor protocols into a unified stream of data and provides an assortment of filters and analyses. ProtoMatch subsumes basic analyses (i.e., fixation duration, number of fixations, etc.) and introduces a method of objectively computing the similarity between scanpaths or cursorpaths using sequence alignment. The combination of filters, basic analyses, and sequence alignment in ProtoMatch provides researchers with a versatile system for performing both confirmatory and exploratory sequential data analyses (Sanderson & Fisher, 1994).     

Visual skills in airport-security screening

Abstract— An experiment examined visual performance in a simulated luggage-screening task. Observers participated in five sessions of a task requiring them to search for knives hidden in x-ray images of cluttered bags. Sensitivity and response times improved reliably as a result of practice. Eye movement data revealed that sensitivity increases were produced entirely by changes in observers' ability to recognize target objects, and not by changes in the effectiveness of visual scanning. Moreover, recognition skills were in part stimulus-specific, such that performance was degraded by the introduction of unfamiliar target objects. Implications for screener training are discussed.     

Handedness and the fringe of consciousness: strong handers ruminate while mixed handers self-reflect

Previous research found that mixed handers (i.e., those that are more ambidextrous) were more likely than strong handers to update their beliefs (Niebauer, Aselage, & Schutte, 2002). It was assumed that this was due to greater degrees of communication between the two cerebral hemispheres in mixed handers. Niebauer and Garvey (2004) made connections between this model of updating beliefs and metacognitive processing. The current work proposes that variations in interhemispheric interaction (as measured by degree of handedness) contribute to differences in consciousness, specifically when consciousness is used in rumination versus the metacognitive task of self-reflection. Using the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (Trapnell & Campbell, 1999), predictions were supported such that strong handedness was associated with self-rumination; whereas, mixed handedness was associated with increased self-reflection p values<.01, (N=255). James's (1890) concept of the "fringe of consciousness" is used to make connections between metacognition, updating beliefs, and self-reflection. Several studies are reviewed suggesting that mixed handers experience fringe consciousness to a greater degree than strong handers.