Timing is everything: changes in presentation rate have opposite effects on auditory and visual implicit statistical learning

Implicit statistical learning (ISL) is exclusive to neither a particular sensory modality nor a single domain of processing. Even so, differences in perceptual processing may substantially affect learning across modalities. In three experiments, statistically equivalent auditory and visual familiarizations were presented under different timing conditions that either facilitated or disrupted temporal processing (fast or slow presentation rates). We find an interaction of rate and modality of presentation: At fast rates, auditory ISL was superior to visual. However, at slow presentation rates, the opposite pattern of results was found: Visual ISL was superior to auditory. Thus, we find that changes to presentation rate differentially affect ISL across sensory modalities. Additional experiments confirmed that this modality-specific effect was not due to cross-modal interference or attentional manipulations. These findings suggest that ISL is rooted in modality-specific, perceptually based processes.     

The arbitrariness of the sign: learning advantages from the structure of the vocabulary

Recent research has demonstrated that systematic mappings between phonological word forms and their meanings can facilitate language learning (e.g., in the form of sound symbolism or cues to grammatical categories). Yet, paradoxically from a learning viewpoint, most words have an arbitrary form-meaning mapping. We hypothesized that this paradox may reflect a division of labor between 2 different language learning functions: arbitrariness facilitates learning specific word meanings and systematicity facilitates learning to group words into categories. In a series of computational investigations and artificial language learning studies, we varied the extent to which the language was arbitrary or systematic. For both the simulations and the behavioral studies, we found that the optimal structure of the vocabulary for learning incorporated this division of labor. Corpus analyses of English and French indicate that these predicted patterns are also found in natural languages.     

Restoring Equity or Introducing Bias? A Contingency Model of Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action Programs1

We developed a model to explain how an individual's attitude toward the group targeted by affirmative action impacts support for the program. In this model, attitude toward the targeted group influences the extent to which an individual perceives discrimination to be responsible for workforce disparities. Perceived discrimination affects fairness judgments of affirmative action programs with the effect contingent on the extent to which the remedy involves preferential treatment. To test this, participants were told about the selection system in a company in which minorities were underrepresented. Participants evaluated the extent to which they believed that discrimination occurs in the hiring process and 3 possible remedies. Results supported attitudes toward the targeted minority group as an antecedent of perceived discrimination and found that the amount of perceived discrimination was negatively related to fairness judgments of opportunity enhancement programs, but positively related to evaluations of programs that involved preferential treatment. Fairness judgments were positively related to support for all 3 affirmative action programs.     

Heinrich Hertz’s Neo-Kantian Philosophy of Science, and its Development by Harald Høffding

Summary  This article is an investigation of parallel themes in Heinrich Hertz’s philosophy science and Kant’s theory of schemata, symbols and regulative ideas. It is argued that Hertz’s “pictures” bears close similarities to Kantian “schemata”, that is, they are rules linking concepts to intuitions and provide them with their meaning. Kant’s distinction between symbols and schemata is discussed and related to Hertz’s three pictures of mechanics. It is argued that Hertz considered his own picture of mechanics (the “hidden mass” picture) as symbolic in a different way than the force and energy pictures. In the final part of the article it is described how Harald H?ffding soon after the publication of Hertz’s Principles of Mechanics developed a general theory of analogical reasoning, relying on the ideas of Hertz and Kant.     

Long-term adverse health outcomes of physical workplace violence: a 7-year population-based follow-up study

The aim of the present study was to analyse whether physical workplace violence increases the risk of long-term adverse health outcomes (i.e., high number of visits to the general practitioner, outpatient treatment, hospital admittance, antidepressant use, and/or having a mental disorder). The study was based on representative survey data from 2006 and 2010 (entitled “How are you?”) merged with register data for a 7-year follow-up period (N = 30,812). To examine if physical workplace violence was a predictor of adverse health outcomes, logistic regression models were conducted for the total follow-up period and for each follow-up year with the different outcome measures as the dependent variables. In the follow-up period, individuals who were exposed to physical workplace violence had a higher number of visits to the general practitioner, had more often received outpatient treatment, and had more often been admitted to hospital than their non-exposed counterparts. Moreover, exposed individuals had higher odds of using antidepressants in the last three follow-up years than did non-exposed individuals. The findings call for heightened attention to securing preventive as well as rehabilitative strategies to help victims of physical workplace violence with the aim of avoiding adverse long-term health consequences.     

Residual differences in language processing in compensated dyslexics revealed in simple word reading tasks

Using regional cerebral blood flow as an index of cerebral activity we studied dyslexic and control subjects during simple word reading tasks. The groups were pre-tested for reading skill and the dyslexic group had a lower reading performance but could read and comprehend standard texts. The aim was to elucidate differences in the cerebral activation pattern during reading. The tasks were simple enough that performance differences between the groups could be excluded. We found specific differences between the two groups that were dependent on the language task. When the visual route for language information was used, minor qualitative differences were found between the groups pertaining to the dominant hemisphere. Increasing the complexity of the task by using pseudowords activated the left frontal region more in the dyslexic group than in the control group. A similar effect was seen in a minor region in extrastriate lateral occipital cortex (BA 19). This finding indicates that the dyslexics used areas in these regions that the controls did not. On the other hand, the dyslexics activated less in the right angular gyrus, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and in the right pallidum. Reading skill correlated with the level of activity in the right frontal cortex. We conclude, that cerebral activation pattern elicited by reading is different in dyslexics compared to controls in spite of an almost complete functional compensation.     

Long-term motor programming improvements occur via concatenation of movement sequences during random but not during blocked practice

According to S. T. Klapp (1995, 1996), extensive practice serves to induce the concatenation of multiple-element responses. One benefit of the chunking process, argued Klapp, is more efficient execution of motor programming. The authors conducted the present study with 30 participants to investigate that proposition. The chunking process was found to be very transient following some practice regimes. Specifically, compared with exposure to random practice, extensive blocked practice resulted in only temporary movement sequence consolidation. The present results provide support for the claim that random practice not only leads to improvements in the completion of intratrial movement planning processes but also affects the structure of the memory developed during practice. Both components are important contributors to long-term improvements in movement preparation associated with a high contextual-interference practice condition.     

The Psychology Graduate Applicant’s Portal (www.psychgrad.org)

Applying to graduate school in psychology can be an intimidating process. Many obstacles must be overcome, such as applying to a program appropriate to the specific applicant, getting good GRE scores, submitting a clear and well-written statement of purpose, and obtaining letters of recommendation, to name just a few. Much information is available to assist applicants in these tasks, but finding this information can cause problems even for experienced Internet users. The goal of this project is to create an easily accessible Web clearing house of information on applying to graduate school in psychology. This Web site, called the Psychology Graduate Applicant’s Portal (or PsychGrad.org), contains targeted links to other Web pages with valuable information, book recommendations on the application process, polls to measure issues important to the graduate applicants, site-unique advice on graduate programs, a message board to exchange information and experiences, and other information relevant to the application process.     

The phonological-distributional coherence hypothesis: cross-linguistic evidence in language acquisition

Several phonological and prosodic properties of words have been shown to relate to differences between grammatical categories. Distributional information about grammatical categories is also a rich source in the child's language environment. In this paper we hypothesise that such cues operate in tandem for developing the child's knowledge about grammatical categories. We term this the Phonological-Distributional Coherence Hypothesis (PDCH). We tested the PDCH by analysing phonological and distributional information in distinguishing open from closed class words and nouns from verbs in four languages: English, Dutch, French, and Japanese. We found an interaction between phonological and distributional cues for all four languages indicating that when distributional cues were less reliable, phonological cues were stronger. This provides converging evidence that language is structured such that language learning benefits from the integration of information about category from contextual and sound-based sources, and that the child's language environment is less impoverished than we might suspect.     

Psychological Sequelae in Parents of Extreme Low and Very Low Birth Weight Infants

The current study evaluated the psychological sequelae in 66 parents of extreme low and very low birth weight infants (mean weight of 842 g). Parents who had given birth within a 3-year period prior to the study were chosen from the archives of a neonatal ward and surveyed regarding posttraumatic stress, coping strategies, and social support. Thirty-five percent of the parents reported that their child had a handicap. Twenty percent of the women met the criteria of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the time of the study, and an additional 10% met the criteria for a subclinical PTSD diagnosis. Female gender, handicap of the child, general distress during hospitalization, distressing contact with hospital staff, experienced distress at homecoming, and emotional coping, explained 72% of the degree of traumatization. Psychological support and intervention is recommended during the hospital stay of a premature infant who has a handicap and after the homecoming to prevent the development of chronic PTSD and reduce the associated distress.