Software timing of events in cognitive psychology experiments

Real-time systems for controlling cognitive psychology experiments typically use hardware clocks. However, systems using software clocks have comparable reliability, accuracy, and resolution, and the advantages of lower cost and hardware simplicity. Four types of software clocks are described and evaluated. Problems in implementing software clock systems are described, along with their solutions. Software clock routines for Apple II series microcomputers are presented.     

Priming and recognition in ECT-induced amnesia

Priming and recognition were tested in patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for treatment of a psychiatric disorder. Patients studied a list of words just prior to ECT and then received memory tests for those words after recovering from ECT. Stem-cued recall was poor (retrograde amnesia), but priming on word-stem completion was preserved. Recognition was poor on a “high-criterion” test requiring a retrieval-based judgment but partially intact on a “low-criterion” test requiring a familiarity-based judgment. The results support the familiarity-retrieval distinction in two-component theories of recognition and suggest that signal detection measures of sensitivity are not wholly independent of response criteria.     

Comparison of magnitude estimation of loudness in children and adults

This study compared children (mean age 10.9 years) and college students on the magnitude estimation of loudness. Both the 20 children and the 20 adults were unpracticed observers. In one condition, the standard tone was assigned the number 10, and in the other condition, the number 20. Under both conditions the power function was found to fit the data of the children quite well, and to give approximately the same exponent. Of particular interest was the similarity between the data of the children and adults.     

Dispositional Influences on Pay Preferences

This study tested whether individual measures of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and positive and negative affect predict a job seeker's attraction to organizations offering merit pay, skill-based pay, or broad banding. Intrinsic motivation was found to predict a decision for merit pay while extrinsic motivation did not. Hierarchical regression analysis results suggested that job seekers who were intrinsically motivated or experienced positive affect were attracted to pay plans that offer high levels of personal involvement. Individuals who were extrinsically motivated or experienced negative affect were attracted to pay plans that offer higher than average starting salaries.     

“It’s all in their head”: hierarchical exploration of a three-dimensional layered pyramid in rats

Animal Cognition - Wayfinding in a three-dimensional (3D) environment is intricate, and surface-bounded animals may overcome this complexity by breaking it down into horizontal layers along with...     

Unitization of Sublexical Components in Implicit Memory for Novel Words

This study examines the role of componential knowledge and unitization processes in implicit memory. In two experiments, subjects studied novel words formed out of morphemes, syllables, or pseudosyllables. They then completed an implicit task requiring a judgment as to which of two items (one old, one new) was a better English word. Experiment 1 replicated previous results showing priming for nonwords formed out of morphemes and syllables but not seudosyllables. This effect was present when orthographic factors were controlled and, unlike explicit (recognition) memory, was equally strong following visual and semantic processing. Experiment 2 showed that little priming was present across a variety of conditions in which the connections between components were altered across study and test. Results are interpreted as evidence for the role of perceptually based activation and integration processes in implicit memory for novel stimuli.     

Ministers evaluate their training in marriage counseling

Summary The results of the study described above have certain implications for planning future training programs. Teaching in this particular field must be primarily learner centered, rather than subject centered. This is borne out by the choices of the respondents that indicate the importance of understanding of the self, and own attitudes, biases, and feelings as they affect the counselor's capacity within the helping relationship; and the emphasis placed upon the strongly teacher-learner-centered method—supervision—as of primary importance. Thus, supervision, which offers support and understanding to the trainee as he struggles to integrate new knowledge and to develop increased sensitivity to others, greater flexibility, and skill, assumes a tremendously important part of the total training experience. This has implications for the training center in relation to the quality and quantity of supervision available to the training person.The question of insufficient time may have psychological as well as practical implications. The importance of a realistic schedule is ovious. The other aspect of this question may have to do with integration and need for time in assimilating a learning experience that requires change and necessarily involves strongly charged affective components. This raises the question of how to maintain a balance between the inevitable anxiety aroused in a new situation, which motivates learning, and excessive anxiety, which may impede progress if the individual becomes more involved in coping with himself than in learning.The need for more training in family-life education is also indicated.     

Aging effects on memory encoding in the frontal lobes

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare frontal-lobe activation in younger and older adults during encoding of words into memory. Participants made semantic or nonsemantic judgments about words. Younger adults exhibited greater activation for semantic relative to nonsemantic judgments in several regions, with the largest activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus. Older adults exhibited greater activation for semantic judgments in the same regions. but the extent of activation was reduced in left prefrontal regions. In older adults, there was a significant association between behavioral tests of declarative and working memory and extent of frontal activation. These results suggest that age-associated decreases in memory ability may be due to decreased frontal-lobe contributions to the initial encoding of experience.