Importance of the kind of cue for judgments of learning (JOL) and the delayed-JOL effect

The delayed-JOL effect is the finding in which judgments of learning (JOLs) are more accurate at predicting eventual recall when they are made a short time after study rather than immediately after study. The present research replicated this effect and found that the kind of cue that is used for JOLs is critical. In particular, following the study of stimulus-response paired associates, there is an extremely robust delayed-JOL effect when the cue for JOLs is the stimulus alone (every one of 45 subjects showed the effect); however, there is little, if any, delayed-JOL effect when the cue for JOLs is the stimulus-response pair. This finding has important implications for education: To have the greatest accuracy at predicting eventual recall, a person should make JOLs not immediately after study but, instead, shortly after study (i.e., delayed JOLs) with the cue for JOLs being the stimulus alone. The theoretical mechanisms for the delayed-JOL effect are currently unknown, but some speculations are offered.     

Sensitivity to aversive events in depression: Antecedent,concomitant, or consequent?

This study tested whether sensitivity to aversive events is a concomitant versus antecedent/consequent of depression. Twenty currently depressed subjects, twenty subjects with remitted depression, and twenty control subjects completed psychophysiological and learning tasks involving aversive components. Both currently depressed and remitted subjects, when compared to control subjects, exhibited greater decreases in skin resistance response reactions to negative social scenes and a greater sensitivity to extinction in the learning condition involving an aversive component. The fact that the responses of remitted subjects were very similar to those of currently depressed subjects on both tasks is consistent with the view that sensitivity to aversive events is an antecedent or consequent of depression, as opposed to being only a concomitant. The results also provide some support for the passive avoidance model of depression.This study was based on portions of a doctoral dissertation by the first author, with the second author as chairperson, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.This research was aided by a Grant-in-Aid of Research to the first author from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, an award from the Jill Shelby Memorial Fund to the first author, and support from National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH17071, awarded to C. R. Snyder.Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, August 1989, and at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Washington, DC, November, 1989.     

Aging, expertise, and narrative processing.

In a study of how aviation expertise influences age differences in narrative processing, young and older pilots and nonpilots read and recalled aviation and general narratives. They chose referents for sentences referring to a protagonist or minor character mentioned 1 sentence (recent character) or 3 sentences (distant character) before this target sentence. All groups chose referents less accurately for sentences about distant and minor characters than about recent and protagonist characters, perhaps because these referents were less likely to be in working memory. Young readers and pilots were more accurate for distant and minor character target sentences in aviation narratives, and recalled aviation narratives more accurately. Expertise did not reduce age differences. Expertise differences may reflect decreased demands on working memory capacity, and age declines may reflect reduced capacity.     

Distance and fusion in Robinson Jeffers' “the purse-seine” and other poems

Distance and fusion are fundamental ideas in Bowenian thinking, especially as expressed in the dynamic of distancing and pursuing. In this paper I have used these ideas as a means to briefly examine a short selection of Robinson Jeffers' poetry, which provides us with a literary example of these concepts in action.My thanks to M. K. Lane and the anonymous reviewers of an earlier draft of this article for their many suggestions, especially to the reviewer who helped me better distinguish between distance and fusion, and intimacy and autonomy.     

Raids upon the random in family therapy training: Discovering what becomes significant

How do you provide family therapy training in a primarily rural state with limited resources? A model for training therapists and supervisors that well may offer guidance to other states that face such a challenge is described here. A meta supervision approach over long distance was used in the three-year project that is described in this paper. Self-reports from the 31 participants who completed the program reveal some interesting positive reactions.     

An educational program to overcome language and cultural barriers to genetic services

Providing genetic services to families who do not speak English and whose cultures are quite diverse presents a unique challenge to genetic specialists. One approach that is being employed successfully is the use of specially trained genetic assistants to provide outreach, case finding, referral, support, interpretation, advocacy, and follow-up counseling. A basic genetic assistant training program for five bicultural/bilingual Southeast Asian case managers is described. The course syllabus can be used to train health workers who represent a variety of cultures and languages.     

Electronic maps for terminal area navigation: effects of frame of reference and dimensionality

Two experiments are reported that contrast rotating versus fixed electronic map displays, which pilots used for a simulated approach to a landing. In Experiment 1, a rotating versus fixed-map display was experimentally crossed with a two-dimensional (2D) versus three-dimensional (3D) view (perspective map) as pilots' ability to maintain the flight path and demonstrate awareness of the location of surrounding terrain features were assessed. Rotating displays supported better flight path guidance and did not substantially harm performance on terrain awareness tasks. 3D displays led to a substantial cost for vertical control but did not differ from 2D displays in lateral control. In Experiment 2, pilots flew with the rotating 2D display and with an improved version of the rotating 3D display, designed to reduce the ambiguity of representing altitude information. Vertical control improved as a result of the 3D display design improvement, but lateral control did not. The results are discussed in terms of the costs and benefits of presenting information in 3D, ego-referenced format for both flight path control and terrain awareness.     

Accountability in a computerized society

This essay warns of eroding accountability in computerized societies. It argues that assumptions about computing and features of situations in which computers are produced create barriers to accountability. Drawing on philosophical analyses of moral blame and responsibility, four barriers are identified: 1) the problem of many hands, 2) the problem of bugs, 3) blaming the computer, and 4) software ownership without liability. The paper concludes with ideas on how to reverse this trend. Several people have contributed generously to this work. Michael Davis, Deborah G. Johnson, Arthur Kuflik, Pamela Samuelson, Debra Satz, Richard De George, Larry May, and Dennis Thompson read drafts and made invaluable suggestions. Reviewers forScience and Engineering Ethics offered thorough and challenging commentary. An earlier version of the paper was presented at The American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division Meeting, December 1993, where audience comments and questions led to clarification of several key issues.