Transfer effects from language processing to visual attention dynamics: The impact of orthographic transparency

The consistency between letters and sounds varies across languages. These differences have been proposed to be associated with different reading mechanisms (lexical vs. phonological), processing grain sizes (coarse vs. fine) and attentional windows (whole words vs. individual letters). This study aimed to extend this idea to writing to dictation. For that purpose, we evaluated whether the use of different types of processing has a differential impact on local windowing attention: phonological (local) processing in a transparent language (Spanish) and lexical (global) processing of an opaque language (English). Spanish and English monolinguals (Experiment 1) and Spanish–English bilinguals (Experiment 2) performed a writing to dictation task followed by a global–local task. The first key performance showed a critical dissociation between languages: the response times (RTs) from the Spanish writing to dictation task was modulated by word length, whereas the RTs from the English writing to dictation task was modulated by word frequency and age of acquisition, as evidence that language transparency biases processing towards phonological or lexical strategies. In addition, after a Spanish task, participants more efficiently processed local information, which resulted in both the benefit of global congruent information and the reduced cost of incongruent global information. Additionally, the results showed that bilinguals adapt their attentional processing depending on the orthographic transparency.     

Mental health in Christian life

Conclusion The influence of mental health upon the perception, assimilation, and expression of religious values is very apparent. As the precision of our knowledge increases, there is no lack of evidence for an affirmative answer to the question posed for the second part of this report.If the proper methods for studying the influence of religion on mental health have seemed to us to be full of ambiguity, it has also seemed to us that the future development of our scientific knowledge relative to the influence of mental health upon religion is entirely feasible and highly desirable.To work for better mental health is to permit believers (and this is equally valid for all religions and all faiths) to gain better understanding of the call of their religion in all its authenticity. The very perception of the religious message, in its richness and complexity, would be enhanced if one could raise the level of balance and of psychological maturity in a population. Mental health does not automatically make men more religious (we have no interest in an automatic, conditioned religion), but it prepares a better background in which the word of God may be heard, received, and more fully assimilated.It is in this perspective that we all must work together—doctors, psychologists, educators, priests—toward improvement of mental health. Let us, however, avoid unenlightened enthusiasm; let us keep ourselves from undertakings of which the practical applications would be directed toward illusory purposes. An effective program demands precise objects: these can be formulated only on the basis of methodically conducted research and scientifically established conclusions.     

Illusory conjunctions and the cerebral hemispheres

Two visual half-field experiments tested Moscovitch’s (1979) proposition that cerebral asymmetry does not concern the earliest perceptual stages but only later processing. Subjects were briefly shown displays that included one (Experiment 1) or two (Experiment 2) types of forms differing in size and which, according to previous evidence, might lead to opposite laterality effects. Laterality effects were assessed for correct detections and for illusory conjunctions, both in terms of raw detection scores and in terms of perceptual discriminability (dr scores). In Experiment 1, displays included either rectangles or triangles. In the first case, the target was a cross; in the second case, it was a Star of David. A hemifield x size interaction was observed both on correct detections and on associated discriminability. Yet, no such interaction was obtained for illusory conjunctions or for associated d’ scores. In Experiment 2, the two types of forms were presented simultaneously, with the small ones either inside or outside the large ones. No laterality effects were observed. Some implications of these data for both hemispheric asymmetry and feature integration issues are discussed. The results suggest that early preattentive processes of feature extraction are not lateralized, whereas some integrative mechanisms, such as Treisman’s (1988) focal attention, may operate differently in the two hemispheres.     

An alternating least squares method for the weighted approximation of a symmetric matrix

Bailey and Gower examined the least squares approximationC to a symmetric matrixB, when the squared discrepancies for diagonal elements receive specific nonunit weights. They focussed on mathematical properties of the optimalC, in constrained and unconstrained cases, rather than on how to obtainC for any givenB. In the present paper a computational solution is given for the case whereC is constrained to be positive semidefinite and of a fixed rankr or less. The solution is based on weakly constrained linear regression analysis.The authors are obliged to John C. Gower for stimulating this research.     

On becoming a leader: Effects of gender and cultural differences on power distance reduction

The present research focused on power processes in a simulated organizational structure consisting of three hierarchical levels occupied by different numbers of mules and females. Subjects were presented with a chart showing the organizational hierarchy of which they were a member placed at the lowest level, and asked to nominate any person for the leader position vacated by the current incumbent. The results of Experiment I (n = 88 Dutch male and female university students) showed that male subjects strongly overnominated themselves, whereas a majority of the female subjects nominated either self or another female. Of the others that were nominated by both males and females, almost all were occupants of positions immediately below the leader position, indicating the normative influence of a bureaucratic rule of leader succession. Experiment 2 was a replicational study carried out in a different culture (n = lOl Polish male and female university students). Polish subjects adhered to the bureaucratic rule more strongly than their Dutch counterparts, and both females and males nominated mostly males. Results are discussed with reference to gender self-stereotypes and cultural differences.     

Medical expertise asa function of task difficulty

This paper is concerned with factors that disrupt the pattern of forward reasoning characteristic of experts with accurate performance. Two experiments are described. In the first, the performances of cardiologists, psychiatrists, and surgeons in diagnostic explanation of a clinical problem in cardiology were examined. In the second, the performances of cardiologists and endocrinologists in diagnostic explanation of clinical problems within and outside their domains of expertise were examined. The performances of researchers and practicing physicians are also compared. The results of Experiment 1 replicated earlier results regarding the relationship between forward reasoning and accurate diagnosis. There were no differences in recall as a function of expertise. Experts did not show any bias toward using specific knowledge from their own areas of expertise. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the breakdown of forward reasoning was related to the structure of the task. In particular, nonsalient cues induced some backward reasoning even in subjects with accurate diagnoses. Some differences were also found between the types of explanation used by researchers and practitioners. The practitioners referred more to clinical components in their explanations, whereas the researchers focused more on the biomedical components.     

Effects of Level of Processing on Implicit and Explicit Memory in Depressed Mood

Recently, several studies have addressed the question of whether depression affects priming in implicit memory tasks. The main aim of this experiment was to assess the presence of a bias for negative information in explicit memory (free recall) and implicit memory (word-stem completion) tasks among subclinically depressed subjects compared to nondepressed subjects, using the typical levels of processing manipulation. The results of this study show the existence of a mood-congruent memory bias for both implicit and explicit memory in depressed subjects. The theoretical implications of these findings for implicit and explicit memory biases associated with depressed mood are discussed.     

TheP system: A scheme for organizing Pavlovian procedures

The present paper introduces theP system as a scheme for organizing Pavlovian procedures in an orderly and comprehensive manner. The system is defined by three temporal variables and three restrictions on their possible values. It can be used to define all standard temporal variables—namely, stimulus duration, interstimulus interval, trace interval, and intertrial interval—as well as variables C and T of scalar expectancy theory. The system also permits the definition of new independent variables through combinations of the basic temporal parameters. We exemplify this possibility by defining two ratios of temporal intervals. These ratios lead to a space where traditional Pavlovian arrangements (viz., simultaneous, forward-trace, forward-delay, backward) become points on a continuum, and optimal conditions across different experimental preparations become equivalent. Finally, the system can be used to define contingency variables such asp(US/CS),p(US/～CS), and the phi coefficient (φ). In this manner, an organization of different kinds of Pavlovian procedures is achieved on the basis of a single parametric scheme. Such an organization facilitates establishing procedural and theoretical relationships between temporal and contingency variables. The paper concludes with a discussion of certain limitations of the system and other related issues