Effects of hearing words, imaging hearing words, and reading on auditory implicit and explicit memory tests

In four experiments, we examined the degree to which imaging written words as spoken by a familiar talker differs from direct perception (hearing words spoken by that talker) and reading words (without imagery) on implicit and explicit tests. Subjects first performed a surface encoding task on spoken, imagined as spoken, or visually presented words, and then were given either an implicit test (perceptual identification or stem completion) or an explicit test (recognition or cued recall) involving auditorily presented words. Auditory presentation at study produced larger priming effects than did imaging or reading. Imaging and reading yielded priming effects of similar magnitude, whereas imaging produced lower performance than reading on the explicit test of cued recall. Voice changes between study and test weakened priming on the implicit tests, but did not affect performance on the explicit tests. Imagined voice changes affected priming only in the implicit task of stem completion. These findings show that the sensitivity of a memory test to perceptual information, either directly perceived or imagined, is an important dimension for dissociating incidental (implicit) and intentional (explicit) retrieval processes.     

The mapping from sound structure to the lexicon in aphasia: evidence from rhyme and repetition priming

Two studies were conducted to explore the hypothesis that Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics have deficits arising from the processes involved in activating the lexicon from phonological form. The first study explored whether phonologically similar lexical entries differing only in their initial consonants show "rhyme priming." Results revealed that Broca's aphasics failed to show facilitation when the target was identical to the prime (i.e. identity priming) and they showed significant inhibition when targets were preceded by rhyming words. Wernicke's aphasics showed a pattern of results similar to that of normal subjects, i.e., identity priming and rhyme priming as well as significantly slower reaction-times in the rhyming condition compared to the identity condition. The second study investigated form-based repetition priming in aphasic patients at a number of intervals including when no other stimuli intervened between repeated stimuli (0 lag) or when 4, 8, or 12 stimuli intervened. Results showed that, unlike old normal subjects who showed repetition priming for both words and nonwords, both Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics showed repetition priming for word targets only. Moreover, in contrast to old normal subjects who showed a greater magnitude of priming at 0 lag for word targets, neither Broca's aphasics or Wernicke's aphasics showed priming at 0 lag. Implications of these findings are considered with respect to the hypotheses that Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics have deficits in the nature of the activation patterns within the lexicon itself and in auditory (working) memory.     

An event-related brain potential analysis of visual word priming effects

Two experiments are reported that provide evidence on task-induced effects during visual lexical processing in a prime-target semantic priming paradigm. The research focuses on target expectancy effects by manipulating the proportion of semantically related and unrelated word pairs. In Experiment 1, a lexical decision task was used and reaction times (RTs) and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were obtained. In Experiment 2, subjects silently read the stimuli, without any additional task demands, and ERPs were recorded. The RT and ERP results of Experiment 1 demonstrate that an expectancy mechanism contributed to the priming effect when a high proportion of related word pairs was presented. The ERP results of Experiment 2 show that in the absence of extraneous task requirements, an expectancy mechanism is not active. However, a standard ERP semantic priming effect was obtained in Experiment 2. The combined results show that priming effects due to relatedness proportion are induced by task demands and are not a standard aspect of online lexical processing.     

Updating geographical knowledge: principles of coherence and inertia

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated how representations of global geography are updated when people learn new location information about individual cities. Participants estimated the latitude of cities in North America (Experiment 1) and in the Old and New Worlds (Experiment 2). After making their first estimates, participants were given information about the latitudes of 2 cities and asked to make a second set of estimates. Both the first and second estimates revealed evidence for psychologically distinct geographical subregions that were coordinated, in an ordinal sense, across the Atlantic Ocean. Further, the second estimates were affected by the nature of the physical adjacency between regions (e.g., the southern U.S. and Mexico) and by accurate location information about distant, but coordinated, subregions (e.g., the southern U.S. and Mediterranean Europe). The data provide support for a framework for making geographical estimates in which people strike a balance between 2 principles: the need to keep their knowledge base coherent, and the inertial tendency to resist changing the knowledge base unless it is necessary to maintain coherence.     

The category access measure of relational processing

Increases in category access (CA) and items recalled per category (IPC) are associated with increases in relational and item-specific processing, respectively. However, it has also been shown that CA increases as recall level increases and that CA scores following relational processing are actually below CA scores for randomly recalled items. These results prompted M. D. Murphy (1979) to suggest that, after adjusting for recall-level differences, relational processing decreases CA scores. Results of Experiment 1, along with a reanalysis of previously published data, showed that relational processing produces lower CA scores than purely item-specific processing (or random recall), but an increase in relational processing produces an increase in CA scores even when the CA and IPC scores are adjusted for recall-level differences. These results suggest a curvilinear relationship between relational processing and CA scores.     

Spontaneous discrimination of natural stimuli by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Six chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were presented with pairs of color photographic images of 5 different categories of animals (cat, chimp, gorilla, tiger, fish). The subjects responded to each pair using symbols for "same" and "different." Both within- and between-category discriminations were tested, and all chimpanzees classified the image pairs in accordance with the 5 experimenter-defined categories under conditions of nondifferential reinforcement. Although previous studies have demonstrated identification or discrimination of natural categories by nonhuman animals, subjects were typically differentially reinforced for their responses. The present findings demonstrate that chimpanzees can classify natural objects spontaneously and that such classifications may be similar to those that would be observed in human subjects.     

The power law repealed: The case for an exponential law of practice

The power function is treated as the law relating response time to practice trials. However, the evidence for a power law is flawed, because it is based on averaged data. We report a survey that assessed the form of the practice function for individual learners and learning conditions in paradigms that have shaped theories of skill acquisition. We fit power and exponential functions to 40 sets of data representing 7,910 learning series from 475 subjects in 24 experiments. The exponential function fit better than the power function in all the unaveraged data sets. Averaging produced a bias in favor of the power function. A new practice function based on the exponential, the APEX function, fit better than a power function with an extra, preexperimental practice parameter. Clearly, the best candidate for the law of practice is the exponential or APEX function, not the generally accepted power function. The theoretical implications are discussed.     

Towards case-specific applications of mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioural therapies: A mindfulness-based rational emotive behaviour therapy

Teasdale, Segal and Williams (2003 Teasdale, JD, Segal, ZV and Williams, JMG. 2003. Mindfulness training and problem formulation. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10: 157–160. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]) present the combination of mindfulness and cognitive-behavioural therapy as “one of the most exciting and potentially productive avenues for future exploration.” (p. 160). In the same paper they also recommend moving beyond the current general-purpose, non-case-specific applications of mindfulness (p. 157). By integrating mindfulness interventions more closely with cognitive behavioural theories, clinicians should be in a better position to administer tailor-made mindfulness-based interventions in response to specific case formulations. This paper examines important similarities and differences between mindfulness and Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), in view of integrating the two practices closely within a one-on-one counselling environment. The latter half of the paper then presents recommendations of how such integration might be achieved in practice. This is illustrated with examples of three new interventions that combine mindfulness with three specific types of cognitive dysfunction as per REBT.     

Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention

Taking a memory test not only assesses what one knows, but also enhances later retention, a phenomenon known as the testing effect. We studied this effect with educationally relevant materials and investigated whether testing facilitates learning only because tests offer an opportunity to restudy material. In two experiments, students studied prose passages and took one or three immediate free-recall tests, without feedback, or restudied the material the same number of times as the students who received tests. Students then took a final retention test 5 min, 2 days, or 1 week later. When the final test was given after 5 min, repeated studying improved recall relative to repeated testing. However, on the delayed tests, prior testing produced substantially greater retention than studying, even though repeated studying increased students' confidence in their ability to remember the material. Testing is a powerful means of improving learning, not just assessing it.