Individual differences in conflict-monitoring: testing means and covariance hypothesis about the Simon and the Eriksen Flanker task

Conflict and context slow-down have been proposed as indicators of a conflict-monitoring system that initiates cognitive control to resolve conflicts in information processing. We investigated individual differences in conflict-monitoring and their associations with working memory (WM) and impulsivity. A total of 150 adults completed a Simon and an Eriksen flanker task, together with measures of WM and impulsivity. On both tasks, responses were slower and less accurate on incompatible than on compatible trials (conflict effect), and the conflict effect was larger when the preceding trial was compatible than when it was incompatible (context effect). Stimulus repetition did not explain the context effect. Individual differences could be attributed to three separable factors for each task: general speeded performance, conflict effect, and context effect. Evidence for across-task generality of these factors was sparse. Associations of these factors with impulsivity were weak at best. WM was correlated with general speed, and also with some but not all factors reflecting conflict-related processes.     

Management style and its effect on prison officers’ stress

This study investigates the impact of the work environment on the level of perceived job stress in prison officers. Two models of prison administration were assessed in an attempt to identify the organizational structures and processes which were related to level of occupational stress. To identify the impact of occupational stress on prison officers, the bureaucratic and unit management models of prison administration are compared with respect to officer job characteristics and management processes. The Occupational Role Questionnaire and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to 112 prison officers. A multivariate analysis identified a significant main effect for prison management type. On all measures, prison officers from the bureaucratic management model (Pentridge Prison) scored higher than officers from a unit management model (Barwon Prison). Role boundary, physical environment, and trait anxiety were the most salient discriminators between officers from Pentridge and Barwon. Private Practice.     

Murine vocalizations: Experimental validation of a novel detector

A new device to detect vocalizations by mice or rats is described. Of modest cost and incorporating integrated circuits and controls that permit rapid setting of center frequency and sensitivity, the device is based on phase-locked tone decoding and can operate at sonic or ultrasonic frequencies. Circuit operation and schematics are provided, as are data from two studies of mice in which reliable discrimination of distress and submission calls from background noise was demonstrated.     

Attention in visual search: Multiple search classes

Data from visual-search tasks are typically interpreted to mean that searching for targets defined by feature differences does not require attention and thus can be performed in parallel, whereas searching for other targets requires serial allocation of attention. The question addressed here was whether a parallel-serial dichotomy would be obtained if data were collected using a variety of targets representing each of several kinds of defining features. Data analyses included several computations in addition to search rate: (1) target-absent to target-present slope ratios; (2) two separate data transformations to control for errors; (3) minimum reaction time; and (4) slopes of standard deviation as a function of set size. Some targets showed strongly parallel or strongly serial search, but there was evidence for several intermediate search classes. Sometimes, for a given target-distractor pair, the results depended strongly on which character was the target and which was the distractor. Implications from theories of visual search are discussed.     

Familiarity,memorability, and the effect of typicality on the recognition of faces

Typical faces are more poorly discriminated on tests of recognition than are atypical faces, an effect suggested to mediate similar findings for attractive or likable faces. We tested the hypothesis that the effect of typicality on recognition is a function of context-free familiarity and memorability, which function in opposition. Two orthogonal principal components were extracted from subjects' ratings of faces for typicality, familiarity, attractiveness, likability, and memorability--one consisting of the ratings of familiarity, attractiveness, and likability, and reflecting context-free familiarity, and the other consisting of the memorability rating. As expected, typicality loaded equally (r approximately .66), but with opposite sign, on both components. In subsequent experiments, both components were found to be significant and additive predictors of face recognition with no residual effect of typicality. General familiarity decreased discrimination, and the memorability component enhanced it, supporting the hypothesis. The results are discussed in terms of the mirror effect.     

ALTRUISM AND CHRISTIAN LOVE

Abstract. Sociobiological theories have had little impact on Christian concepts of neighbor love. Since sociobiological theories of altruism depict love as a form of egoistic interest in enhancing one's general fitness, they are often thought to contradict Christian theories of love. However, altruism as defined by sociobiology has more affinity with Roman Catholic views of Christian love as caritas than Protestant views of extreme agape. Sociobiological views of altruism may provide more updated models for defining the orders and priorities of love, which has been an important aspect of Roman Catholic ethics. The family's role in mediating between kin altruism and wider love for the community is investigated.     

On the relationship between detection and recognition

Predictions derived from a “unitary-process” theory on the relationship between detection and recognition were examined in two experiments on visual detection and recognition. As predicted on the basis of this theory, recognition accuracy was superior to detection accuracy. An analysis of the conditional probabilities from a joint detection-recognition task revealed the pattern of relationships predicted by the theory. Increasing the number of alternative stimuli while maintaining only two response categories was found not to significantly affect detection or recognition performance, contrary to expectations based on the idea of multiple independent detectors.