Cognitive load and semantic analogies: Searching semantic space

The aim of the present study is to investigate the performance of children of different ages on an analogymaking task involving semantic analogies in which there are competing semantic matches. We suggest that this can best be studied in terms of developmental changes in executive functioning. We hypothesize that the selection of common relational structure requires the inhibition of other salient features, in particular semantically related matches. Our results show that children's performance in classic A ∶ B ∶∶ C ∶ D analogy-making tasks seems to depend crucially on the nature of the distractors and the association strength between both the A and B terms and the C and D terms. These results agree with an analogy-making account (Richland, Morrison, & Holyoak, 2006) based on different limitations in executive functioning at different ages.     

Religious involvement and the social competence and adjustment of Indonesian Muslim adolescents

This study assessed the relation between religious involvement and multiple indices of competence in 183 eighth- and ninth-grade Indonesian Muslim adolescents (M = 13.3 years). The authors assessed spirituality and religiosity using both parent and adolescent reports, and social competence and adjustment using multiple measures and data sources. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that parent and adolescent reports of religiosity and spirituality yielded a single religious involvement latent variable that was related to peer group status, academic achievement, emotional regulation, prosocial behavior, antisocial/problem behavior, internalizing behavior, and self-esteem. The consistency of relations between religious involvement and competence may be in part attributable to the collectivist context of religion in West Java, Indonesia, within which people exhibit strong beliefs in Islam and religion permeates daily life.     

Eyewitness memory following discussion: using the MORI technique with a Western sample

Researchers studying memory conformity have made significant advances in our understanding of the phenomenon, but have used methods with significant shortcomings. Mori's three‐stage method addresses many of these concerns. To date the technique has not been replicated on a Western sample. We present such a study, and discuss two significant improvements to Mori's method. We found that subjects were more likely to report the correct answer for non‐discussed critical details than discussed critical details. Our data also suggested that when subjects agreed with their partner's information during the discussion, they did so because they thought that information was accurate; only a minority of the time did they go along with their partner during discussion and revert to their own answer at the test. We draw parallels between the unknown mechanisms driving memory conformity effects and the search for mechanisms driving the misinformation effect two decades ago. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between susceptibility to false memories, dissociativity, and paranormal belief and experience

One hundred participants completed a News Coverage Questionnaire concerning personal memories of where they were, what they were doing and who they were with when footage of dramatic news events was first shown on television, as well as asking them to recall details of the footage itself. These news items included four events that are known to have been captured on film and one item concerning non-existent footage of the bombing of a nightclub in Bali. Overall, 36% of respondents reported false memories of the alleged footage of the Bali bombing. Participants reporting false memories were found to score significantly higher than those who did not report such memories on the Australian Sheep–Goat Scale, on various subscales of the Anomalous Experiences Inventory (Belief, Experience and Ability) and on the Dissociative Experiences Scale, supporting the hypothesis that believers in the paranormal may be more susceptible to false memories than non-believers.     

The Turing Test: the first 50 years

The Turing Test, originally proposed as a simple operational definition of intelligence, has now been with us for exactly half a century. It is safe to say that no other single article in computer science, and few other articles in science in general, have generated so much discussion. The present article chronicles the comments and controversy surrounding Turing's classic article from its publication to the present. The changing perception of the Turing Test over the last 50 years has paralleled the changing attitudes in the scientific community towards artificial intelligence: from the unbridled optimism of 1960s to the current realization of the immense difficulties that still lie ahead. I conclude with the prediction that the Turing Test will remain important, not only as a landmark in the history of the development of intelligent machines, but also with real relevance to future generations of people living in a world in which the cognitive capacities of machines will be vastly greater than they are now.     

Metacognitive beliefs across the continuum of psychosis: comparisons between patients with psychotic disorders, patients at ultra-high risk and non-patients

BACKGROUND: Recent models of emotional disorders and psychosis implicate metacognitive beliefs in the development and maintenance of psychological distress. We predicted that patients with established psychotic disorders and those meeting at risk mental state (ARMS) criteria (and, thus, at increased risk of developing psychosis) would show higher levels of metacognitive beliefs than non-patient controls. Furthermore, we predicted that patients with psychosis would show higher levels of such beliefs than the at risk group. METHOD: The Metacognitions Questionnaire was administered to 73 patients with psychotic disorders, 43 ARMS patients and 188 non-patients. RESULTS: As predicted, patients with psychotic diagnoses and those at risk scored higher on metacognitive belief dimensions than non-patients. Patients with psychosis showed higher positive metacognitive beliefs than the at risk patients, indicating a greater range of unhelpful metacognitions overall, when compared to non-patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with metacognitive conceptualisations of psychological disorders. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.     

Test anxiety,evaluative stress,and susceptibility to distraction from threat

Examinations are perhaps one of the main methods of assessment in education. Unfortunately, there are some individuals who are so fearful of such events that performance is impaired. Test anxiety is believed to be the trait that predisposes individuals to react negatively to examinations and tests. One way in which it is believed that test anxiety affects performance is by increasing susceptibility to distraction from task‐irrelevant material. However, few studies have directly investigated this impairment. An experiment was therefore conducted to investigate susceptibility to distraction in high and low test‐anxious students. The task used was based on one developed by Mathews, May, Mogg and Eysenck (1990), which distinguishes between focused attention and selective search. In order to determine whether a specific susceptibility to distraction exists, the distractors were varied in terms of valence and relevance to examinations. Since test anxiety is a situation‐specific trait, an evaluation‐related stressor was used to trigger test‐anxious reactions. A specific susceptibility to distraction from threat was found amongst high test‐anxious participants who received the evaluation‐related stressor. However, this effect was only found when participants were using focused attention. This suggests that the disturbed performance often found to be associated with test anxiety might be due to an inability to ignore threatening material when attempting to focus attentional resources. These results are discussed in light of current theories of test anxiety and implications for educational practice. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.