Numerical comparison processes

The relative lengths of two rows of objects systematically affected the time to make judgments of the relative number of objects. The time to decide which row contained more objects generally increased with the amount of incongruity between length and number (e.g., reaction time was long when the numerically larger row was the shorter of the two). In addition, the time to decide that the rows contained an equal number of objects increased with the disparity in length between the rows. These results suggest that length information was used in the numerical comparison process. A model that uses an internal transformation of row length is proposed to account for the results.     

Positive Life Events as a Moderator of Stress‐Related Depressive Symptoms

This study examines the relationships among positive life events, negative life events, and depressive symptoms in a sample of college students. Consistent with predictions, the results of a hierarchical multiple regression indicated a significant main effect for negative life events in predicting depressive symptoms such that increases in negative life events were associated with increases in depressive symptoms. There was also significant interaction between positive and negative life events such that the depressive effects of higher levels of negative life events seem to be reduced for subjects who had also experienced higher levels of positive life events.     

Investigating whether controlling and aggressive relationship behaviors are discriminant

Control is theorized as central to intimate partner aggression (IPA). Tools measuring nonphysical “controlling behaviors” in relationships have therefore been developed to identify the latent construct of control. However, the underlying assumption that “controlling behaviors” form a distinct subset of IPA has not been validated. This study investigates the divergent validity of acts considered as “controlling behaviors” against other aggressive acts used in relationships. The IPA and relationship literatures were reviewed to identify 1,397 items involving “controlling,” physical, sexual, and psychologically aggressive acts perpetrated and/or experienced by an intimate partner. In total, 101 item pairs were identified and used to measure IPA tactics across these categories. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis in a community sample (N = 561) found no evidence of a distinct factor of “controlling behaviors.” Behaviors labeled as “controlling” in existing measures were distributed across other factors, including “eclectic aggression,” “direct psychological aggression,” and “monitoring acts.” In Study 2A (N = 424 students), confirmatory factor analysis replicated the results of Study 1 and established configural measurement invariance (Study 2B), indicating no evidence for psychometric differences between samples. These results indicate that behaviors described as “controlling” in existing measures were not statistically distinguishable from other forms of IPA, and suggest that future research should investigate motivational, rather than behavioral, differences in the use of IPA. The findings challenge research to confirm whether a set of discrete behaviors can be used to accurately identify control in relationships and question the validity of tools that adopt this methodology.     

Establishing arbitrary comparative relations and referential transformations of stimulus function in individuals with autism

Relational Frame Theory posits that complex language develops through arbitrarily applicable relational networks, with potential implications for individuals with autism. Responding relationally based on comparison occurs when participants respond to any number of comparative properties, such as “bigger” or “faster.” Experiment 1 established two 3-member comparative networks, in which a stimulus A was conditioned as “bigger” or “faster” than a stimulus B, and the stimulus B was conditioned as “bigger” or “faster” than a stimulus C in 2 children with autism. Both participants met the mastery criterion for the trained relations and demonstrated the emergence of the untrained combinatorially entailed A–C and C–A relations. The participants could also match the arbitrary A stimuli with larger or faster objects and the C stimuli with smaller or slower objects. The results were replicated in Experiment 2 with the same participants, where a 5-member relational network was established for the bigger/smaller relation.     

Contribution of visual and semantic proximity to identification performance in a viral encephalitis patient

Identification deficits were investigated in F.S., a patient with herpes simplex viral encephalitis. F.S.'s confrontation naming abilities were assessed for multiple repetitions of 12 line drawings of artifacts. Six of the line drawings consisted of psychologically "close" objects (i.e., objects that share many visual and semantic features with other objects) and 6 were psychologically "disparate" objects (i.e., objects that share few, if any, visual and semantic features with other objects). F.S. correctly named all of the objects from the "disparate" category but only 47% of the objects from the "close" category. We also tested F.S. using novel, computer-generated shapes that were paired with artifact labels. We paired semantically close or disparate labels to shapes and F.S. attempted to learn these pairings. Overall, F.S.'s shape-label confusions were most detrimentally affected when we used labels that referred to objects that were visually close and semantically distinct. Results indicate that, at least for our patient, visual similarity contributed the most to his identification errors.     

Dynamic illusion effects in a reaching task: evidence for separate visual representations in the planning and control of reaching.

The effects of an orientation illusion on perception and 2 different actions were investigated. An 8-cm x 2-cm cylindrical bar was placed in front of participants at various orientations. A background grating was used to induce an orientation illusion. In a perception task, the illusion affected participants' ability to align the bar with their sagittal planes. In one reaching task, a similar effect of the illusion was found on the choice between 2 possible grasping postures. In a second reaching task involving a single grasping posture, the orientation illusion affected the orientation of the hand at the beginning of the reach but not near its end. The authors argue that reaching trajectories are planned and initiated through a context-dependent representation but are corrected on-line through a context-independent representation. The relation of this model to a more general dichotomy between perception and action is discussed.     

Multiculturally Responsive Counseling: Effects on Asian Students' Ratings of Counselors

The authors conducted an analog study to investigate the difference between culturally responsive and culturally neutral counselors. Sixty Asian international students were interviewed by 6 counselors. Students in the culturally responsive condition rated their counselors as significantly more expert, attractive, and trustworthy than those in the culturally neutral condition. Un estudio analágico se diseñó para investigar la diferencia entre consejeros culturalmente sensibles y culturalmente neutrales. Sesenta estudiantes internacionales Asiáticos fueron entrevistados por seis consejeros. Los estudiantes en la condición culturalmente sensible valoraron a sus consejeros como significativamente más expertos, atractivos, y confiables que ésos en la condición culturalmente neutral.     

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF INAPPROPRIATE VERBAL BEHAVIOR

The present study examined the possible function of inappropriate verbal behavior of an adult man who had been diagnosed with both mental retardation and psychosis. Results of a functional analysis indicated that inappropriate verbal utterances were maintained by attention. An intervention consisting of the differential reinforcement of appropriate verbal behavior effectively reduced the inappropriate behavior.     

Mild memory deficits differentially affect 6-year changes in compensatory strategy use

The authors examined memory compensation techniques used by older adults from 2 memory status groups, not impaired control (NIC) and mild memory deficit (MMD), both at baseline and across a 6-year (3-wave) interval. The groups were derived from a parent sample of 55- to 85-year-old adults from the Victoria Longitudinal Study (NIC baseline, n = 276; memory > parent sample mean; MMD baseline, n = 79; memory > 1 standard deviation below parent sample mean). Multilevel modeling was used to test 3 research questions concerning differences in initial use of, and 6-year changes and variability in, memory compensation. Initial group differences were observed for both a memory compensation technique and a general compensation indicator. Significant differences in 6-year change patterns were observed for 2 memory compensation techniques (recruitment of human memory assistance, investment of extra effort in memory tasks). Interactions of group status and wave showed that older adults with MMD declined in their use of memory compensation strategies, whereas initially NIC older adults increased their use of compensatory techniques over the 6 years.     

Embodiment and abstraction: Actions create relational representations

Theories of embodied, modal representation propose that concepts are grounded in the sensorimotor system. According to these theories, action (or the potential for action) creates meaning. An apparent challenge for these theories is the fact that higher-order relations (i.e., relations among relations), such as monotonic increase or alternation, have no straightforward sensorimotor analog. A single action can increase or alternate only relative to another action. Therefore, if embodied theories are to handle concepts more generally, patterns of action must provide meaning to the system. Previous research suggested that as participants simulated the motion of gear problems they discovered a higher-order relation, alternation, based on the episodic traces of their own alternating actions. The present study showed that the number of alternating actions in episodic memory prior to discovery of the alternation relation predicted its generalization to new problem types. Actions can function as the representational substrate of higher-order relations.