Repetition blindness reveals differences between the representations of manipulable and nonmanipulable objects

We used repetition blindness to investigate the nature of the representations underlying identification of manipulable objects. Observers named objects presented in rapid serial visual presentation streams containing either manipulable or nonmanipulable objects. In half the streams, 1 object was repeated. Overall accuracy was lower when streams contained 2 different manipulable objects than when they contained only nonmanipulable objects or a single manipulable object. In addition, nonmanipulable objects induced repetition blindness, whereas manipulable objects were associated with a repetition advantage. These findings suggest that motor information plays a direct role in object identification. Manipulable objects are vulnerable to interference from other objects associated with conflicting motor programs, but they show better individuation of repeated objects associated with the same action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Predictors of suicidal ideation among "at risk" cocaine-using African American women

The focus of this study was to identify factors that differentiate women drug abusers who had experienced suicidal ideation from those who did not. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 221 cocaine-using women in Atlanta, GA, 88 (39.8%) of whom reported thinking about committing suicide at least once during the 90 days prior to interview and 133 (60.2%) of whom did not. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors of suicidal ideation, and post hoc goodness-of-fit tests were conducted to assess the robustness of final models derived. Model 1 excluded all psychosocial functioning measures and Model 2 included these items. Both models showed that suicidal ideation was more common among women who were unemployed, had been abused sexually, engaged in sexual relations to cope with stresses, or had less helpful relatives. In addition, Model 1 revealed a heightened risk for women experiencing financial problems and those who had a previous mental health diagnosis, whereas Model 2 showed an elevated risk among women who experienced anxiety and those who had lower levels of self-esteem. These findings suggest the need for prevention and intervention programs that target at-risk women, and for such programs to include an emphasis on suicidal ideation in addition to focusing on risk factors that are addressed more commonly.     

Hypo-egoic self-regulation: exercising self-control by diminishing the influence of the self

Theory and research dealing with self-regulation have focused primarily on instances of self-regulation that involve high levels of self-reflection and effortful self-control. However, intentionally trying to control one's behavior sometimes reduces the likelihood of achieving one's goals. This article examines the process of hypo-egoic self-regulation in which people relinquish deliberate, conscious control over their own behavior so that they will respond more naturally, spontaneously, or automatically. An examination of spontaneously occurring hypo-egoic states (such as flow, deindividuation, and transcendence) suggests that hypo-egoic states are characterized by lowered self-awareness and/or an increase in concrete and present-focused self-thoughts. In light of this, people may intentionally foster hypo-egoism via two pathways-(a) taking steps to reduce the proportion of time that they are self-aware (such as repeating a behavior until it is automatic or practicing meditation) or (b) increasing the concreteness of their self-thoughts (such as inducing a concrete mindset or practicing mindfulness). In this way, people may deliberately choose to regulate hypo-egoically when effortful control might be detrimental to their performance.     

EFFECTS OF TREATMENT INTEGRITY FAILURES DURING DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF ALTERNATIVE BEHAVIOR: A TRANSLATIONAL MODEL

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is used frequently as a treatment for problem behavior. Previous studies on treatment integrity failures during DRA suggest that the intervention is robust, but research has not yet investigated the effects of different types of integrity failures. We examined the effects of two types of integrity failures on DRA, starting with a human operant procedure and extending the results to children with disabilities in a school setting. Human operant results (Experiment 1) showed that conditions involving reinforcement for problem behavior were more detrimental than failing to reinforce appropriate behavior alone, and that condition order affected the results. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated the effects of combined errors and sequence effects during actual treatment implementation.     

First graders' literacy and self-regulation gains: The effect of individualizing student instruction

We examined the effect of individualizing student instruction (ISI; N = 445 students, 46 classrooms) on first graders' self-regulation gains compared to a business-as-usual control group. Self-regulation, conceptualized as a constellation of executive skills, was positively associated with academic development. We hypothesized that the ISI intervention's emphasis on teacher planning and organization, classroom management, and the opportunity for students to work independently and in small groups would promote students' self-regulation. We found no main effect of ISI on self-regulation gains. However, for students with weaker initial self-regulation, ISI was associated with greater self-regulation gains compared to peers in control classrooms. The ISI effect on self-regulation was greater when the intervention was more fully implemented.     

A Rasch Measure of Fostering Creativity

A general creativity questionnaire of 21 stem-items was designed and based on 7 teaching aspects of fostering creativity in higher education students: (a) teaching the skills and attitudes of creativity; (b) teaching the creative methods of the disciplines; (c) developing a problem-friendly classroom; (d) using prior knowledge; (e) using different types of problems; (f) using multi-disciplinary hands-on projects; and (g) using appropriate lesson plans. Stem-items (21) based on these were conceptualized from easy to hard—3 stem-items for each of the 7 aspects—and answered in 2 perspectives: (a) an attitude self-view (ideally this is what I think I should do) and (b) a behavior self-view (this is what I actually do)—using 3 ordered response categories: none or some of the time (score 1), most of the time (score 2), and all of the time (score 3). This meant that the effective item sample was 42. The general questionnaire was applied to a lecturer sample from a higher institution, N = 124. Data were analyzed with a Rasch measurement model computer program. The item-trait interaction chi-square was not statistically significant (χ² = 87.6, df = 84, p = 0.37), meaning that a unidimensional trait (called fostering creativity) was measured in which the 42 items each fitted the measurement model with p > 0.02. The Person Separation Index was 0.78 and the Cronbach Alpha was 0.79 showing that the measures were well-separated along the scale in comparison to the errors.     

Direct Learning

The theory of direct perception holds that perception is specific to properties of ambient energy arrays. This article explores a similar approach to perceptual and perceptual-motor learning: Change due to learning is portrayed as specific to properties of ambient energy arrays. This type of learning is labeled direct learning. It is argued that a theory of direct learning explains a wide range of phenomena in ecologically relevant and informationally rich situations as well as in simpler experimental situations. Previous experimental results are reanalyzed and reinterpreted from the perspective of direct learning. To achieve this, the notion of information space is introduced. In information spaces, points represent ambient energy variables, paths represent change due to learning, and vector fields represent information that guides learning. These concepts also allow the theory of direct learning to be connected to and to take advantage of the theory of ordinary differential equations.