Context effects on lexical choice and lexical activation

Speakers are regularly confronted with the choice among lexical alternatives when referring to objects, including basic-level names (e.g., car) and subordinate-level names (e.g., Beetle). Which of these names is eventually selected often depends on contextual factors. The present article reports a series of picture-word interference experiments that explored how the designated target name (basic level vs. subordinate level) and contextual constraints rendering the name alternative either appropriate or inappropriate affect lexical activation and lexical choice. The experimental data demonstrate clear context effects on the eventual lexical choice. However, they also show that alternative nonselected object names are phonologically activated, even if a constraining context makes these alternative names currently inappropriate.     

Disseminating a smokeless tobacco cessation intervention model to dental hygienists: a randomized comparison of personalized instruction and self-study methods.

This study evaluated 2 methods of disseminating an empirically validated smokeless tobacco intervention delivered during routine dental care. Twenty cities within 12 states were stratified and then randomized to 1 of 3 groups: personalized instruction (PI), self-study (SS), or delayed training (DT) control. Dental hygienists in the SS condition were sent a manual and video. Those in the PI condition were recruited to attend a workshop. Thirty-seven percent of eligible hygienists agreed to participate. At 12 months postenrollment, hygienists in the SS and PI conditions significantly increased their "Assist" behaviors (discuss cessation techniques, help patient set a quit date, and provide cessation materials) and reported fewer perceived barriers to delivering the intervention as compared with hygienists in DT. An economic analysis suggests that SS is more cost-effective than PI.     

Evaluative conditioning in social psychology: Facts and speculations

The aim of the present paper is to examine the contribution of evaluative conditioning (EC) to attitude formation theory in social psychology. This aim is pursued on two fronts. First, evaluative conditioning is analysed for its relevance to social psychological research. We show that conditioned attitudes can be acquired through simple co-occurrences of a neutral and a valenced stimulus. Moreover, we argue that conditioned attitudes are not confined to direct contact with a valenced stimulus, but can be formed and dynamically reformed indirectly, through association chains. Second, social research is examined in an effort to identify evaluative learning mechanisms. We suggest that several important phenomena in social psychology (e.g., ingroup favouritism, prejudice, name letter effect) are at least partly due to simple mechanisms of evaluative learning. The implications for attitude formation theory and for applied settings are discussed.     

Kindling-induced changes in plasticity of the rat amygdala and hippocampus

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is often accompanied by interictal behavioral abnormalities, such as fear and memory impairment. To identify possible underlying substrates, we analyzed long-term synaptic plasticity in two relevant brain regions, the lateral amygdala (LA) and the CA1 region of the hippocampus, in the kindling model of epilepsy. Wistar rats were kindled through daily administration of brief electrical stimulations to the left basolateral nucleus of the amygdala. Field potential recordings were performed in slices obtained from kindled rats 48 h after the last induced seizure, and in slices from sham-implanted and nonimplanted controls. Kindling resulted in a significant impairment of long-term potentiation (LTP) in both the LA and the CA1, the magnitude of which was dependent on the number of prior stage V seizures. Saturation of CA1-LTP, assessed through repeated spaced delivery of high-frequency stimulation, occurred at lower levels in kindled compared to sham-implanted animals, consistent with the hypothesis of reduced capacity of further synaptic strengthening. Furthermore, theta pulse stimulation elicited long-term depression in the amygdala in nonimplanted and sham-implanted controls, whereas the same stimulation protocol stimulation caused LTP in kindled rats. In conclusion, kindling differentially affects the magnitude, saturation, and polarity of LTP in the CA1 and LA, respectively, most likely indicating an activity-dependent mechanism in the context of synaptic metaplasticity.     

Bayesian eggs and Bayesian omelettes: reply to Stern (2005)

In this response to Stern's (2005) discussion of Klugkist, Laudy, and Hoijtink (2005), model inference based on posterior probabilities on the parameter space is discussed. Furthermore, the authors respond to Stern's example in which all possible orderings are included via a short discussion of exploratory versus theory-based modeling. Finally, the authors show that the Bayesian approach is flexible and can deal with many types of constraints. This is illustrated using a model with constraints on the differences between means.     

Two measures of affect and emotion in Italian children aged 6 to 11 years

The authors investigated the relation between affective and cognitive processes in fantasy play and emotional understanding of 50 Italian children (25 boys and 25 girls) enrolled in regular elementary school in Northern Italy. Children were administered a standardized play task, the Affect in Play Scale, and answered questions about their understanding of emotions. Consistent, yet modest, relationships were found between dimensions of fantasy play and emotional understanding.     

Disposition to recognize goals in infant chimpanzees

Do nonhuman primates attribute goals to others? Traditional studies with chimpanzees provide equivocal evidence for “mind reading” in nonhuman primates. Here we adopt looking time, a methodology commonly used with human infants to test infant chimpanzees. In this experiment, four infant chimpanzees saw computer-generated stimuli that mimicked a goal-directed behavior. The baby chimps performed as well as human infants, namely, they were sensitive to the trajectories of the objects, thus suggesting that chimpanzees may be endowed with a disposition to understand goal-directed behaviors. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.