Look into my eyes: Gaze direction and person memory

The current research considered the effects of gaze direction on a fundamental aspect of social cogition: person memory. It was anticipated that a person's direction of gaze (i.e., direct or averted) would impact his or her subsequent memorability, such that recognition would be enhanced for targets previously displaying direct gaze. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with faces displaying either direct or averted gaze in a person‐classification (i.e., conceptual) task. Then, in a surprise memory test, they were required to report whether a presented face had been seen before. As expected, a recognition advantage was observed for targets displaying direct gaze during the initial classification task. This finding was replicated and extended in a second experiment in which participants initially reported the spatial location (i.e., perceptual task) of each face. We consider the implications of these findings for basic aspects of social‐cognitive functioning and person perception.     

‘They were brilliant,I don't know what I would've done if they hadn't been here’: the group concept problem revisited

This article concerns the group concept problem in people labelled as having learning disabilities, described in a series of papers by Gibbons and colleagues (Gibbons, 1981 , 1985a , 1985b ; Gibbons & Gibbons, 1980 ; Gibbons & Kassin, 1982 ). We argue that the interpretations of these studies are questionable, and alternative explanations for the patterns of results found are possible. Examples from a study in which people with the label talked about particular others who also have the label are presented. In these examples, the category was not represented as homogeneous, relationships with others were valued, and a desire for distance was only found when participants talked about people who behaved aggressively. The findings are discussed with reference to the social model of disability. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Priming Effects in Explicit and Implicit Memory for Textual Advertisements

Les effets d’une amorce sur les mémoires implicite et explicite à propos d’un produit placé dans un texte ont été mis à l’épreuve sous deux conditions, l’une où l’attention était orientée vers (encodage intentionnel) ou détournée du produit (encodage incident). Dans la première expérience, les caractéristiques positives d’un produit avaient plus de chances que les négatives d’être restituées, ce qui a conduit à un effet d’assimilation dans une condition témoin. Par contre, lorsque les particularités du produit étaient en amorec, le rappel explicite des caractéristiques négatives augmentait, débouchant sur un effet de contraste. L’impact de l’amorce était limitéà la condition d’encodage intentionnel, ce qui signifiait un effacement de l’information incompatible avec l’amorce. Dans la deuxième expérience, les épreuves de mémoires implicites perceptuelle et sémantique ont montré des effets d’amorce équivalents suite à l’encodage du produit, qu’il soit intentionnel ou incident. Par suite et contrairement à la mémoire explicite, la mémoire implicite du produit n’était pas conditionnée par l’attention. L’identification de ces limites de l’amorçage est utile aux gens de marketing qui envisagent ce consevoir une publicité exploitant les mémoires explicite et implicite d’un produit. The effects of priming on explicit and implicit memory about a product placed within a narrative were tested under conditions in which attention was drawn to (intentional encoding) or away from (incidental encoding) the product. In Experiment 1, positive features of a product were more likely to be recalled than negative features leading to an assimilation effect in a baseline condition. When the product characteristic was primed, however, explicit recall of the negative features increased resulting in a contrast effect. The impact of priming was restricted to the intentional encoding condition reflecting resolution of information incongruent with the prime. In Experiment 2, perceptual and semantic implicit memory tests revealed equivalent priming effects following both intentional and incidental encoding of the product. Thus, unlike explicit memory, implicit memory for the product was not limited by attention. Recognition of these boundary conditions of priming informs marketers intending to design advertising that taps explicit and implicit memory for a product.     

Scene recognition following locomotion around a scene

Effects of locomotion on scene-recognition reaction time (RT) and accuracy were studied. In experiment 1, observers memorized an 11-object scene and made scene-recognition judgments on subsequently presented scenes from the encoded view or different views (ie scenes were rotated or observers moved around the scene, both from 40 degrees to 360 degrees). In experiment 2, observers viewed different 5-object scenes on each trial and made scene-recognition judgments from the encoded view or after moving around the scene, from 36 degrees to 180 degrees. Across experiments, scene-recognition RT increased (in experiment 2 accuracy decreased) with angular distance between encoded and judged views, regardless of how the viewpoint changes occurred. The findings raise questions about conditions in which locomotion produces spatially updated representations of scenes.     

Developmental structure in brain evolution

How does evolution grow bigger brains? It has been widely assumed that growth of individual structures and functional systems in response to niche-specific cognitive challenges is the most plausible mechanism for brain expansion in mammals. Comparison of multiple regressions on allometric data for 131 mammalian species, however, suggests that for 9 of 11 brain structures taxonomic and body size factors are less important than covariance of these major structures with each other. Which structure grows biggest is largely predicted by a conserved order of neurogenesis that can be derived from the basic axial structure of the developing brain. This conserved order of neurogenesis predicts the relative scaling not only of gross brain regions like the isocortex or mesencephalon, but also the level of detail of individual thalamic nuclei. Special selection of particular areas for specific functions does occur, but it is a minor factor compared to the large-scale covariance of the whole brain. The idea that enlarged isocortex could be a "spandrel," a by-product of structural constraints later adapted for various behaviors, contrasts with approaches to selection of particular brain regions for cognitively advanced uses, as is commonly assumed in the case of hominid brain evolution.     

Person perception across the menstrual cycle: hormonal influences on social-cognitive functioning

Women's reactions to men shift during the menstrual cycle. For example, during the phase of high conception risk, women prefer men with masculinized facial features. A favored explanation for this effect is that women display an enhanced sensitivity to stimuli that have significant reproductive relevance during the phase of the menstrual cycle in which conception risk is high. Consistent with this viewpoint, the present research demonstrated that women's cycle–dependent attentiveness to "maleness" also extends to basic aspects of the person–perception process. Specifically, during the phase of high conception risk, women displayed an enhanced ability both to categorize men and to access associated category–related (i.e., stereotypic) material from semantic memory. The implications of these findings for contemporary treatments of person perception are considered.     

Remembering or knowing others? Person recognition and recollective experience

Using Tulving's (1985) remember/know procedure, the present research investigated the experiential concomitants of person recognition. Noting basic differences in the manner in which the mind processes expectancy-related material, it was anticipated that facial typicality would be a critical determinant of people's recollective experiences (i.e., remembering vs knowing). In particular, it was expected that whereas remember responses would be more prevalent for distinctive than typical faces, know responses would reflect the opposite pattern. The results of two experiments provided general support for these predictions. In addition, the recollective advantage for distinctive faces was traced to the availability of attentional resources at encoding. These results are considered in the context of contemporary issues in person recognition and social cognition.     

The Importance of Subjective Norms on Intentions to Perform Health Behaviors

Trafimow & Finlay (1996) employed between- and within-subjects analyses to show that people, as well as behaviors, can be under attitudinal or normative control. Using both types of analyses, Finlay, Trafimow & Jones (1997) provided evidence that subjective norms are particularly important in the health domain. The current research compares health and domain general behaviors to show that people intend to perform health behaviors that have relatively large subjective norm beta weights more than those with smaller normative beta weights. Also, people whose behaviors are generally under normative control intend to perform more healthful behaviors than do people whose behaviors are generally under attitudinal control. These results were not found using domain-general behaviors.     

The Relationship Between the Private Self and Helping Victims of AIDS1

Social psychological theory is not often extended into real-world social contexts. In contrast, the current work applies the concept of increasing the accessibility of the private self (Trafimow, Triandis, & Goto, 1991) to a real-world situation; namely, helping people with AIDS. The current results show that priming the private self increases actual helping behaviors directed toward victims of AIDS as compared to a no-prime condition. Furthermore, path analyses show that empathy mediates the prime-helping relationship. No significant gender differences were observed in self-reports of empathy toward victims of AIDS, but women generally volunteered to help more than men.