Information integration in price-quality tradeoffs: The effect of missing information

Support for averaging processes in information integration has relied on experimental designs in which the amount of information to be integrated was varied. The usual interpretation is that subjects balance the values of the various stimuli presented on a given trial. An alternative interpretation is that subjects may use their perceptions of the relationship between stimulus dimensions to infer the value of missing information. In the present study, subjects were asked to rate their expected satisfaction with purchases of ground beef on the basis of quality and/or price information. The responses of some subjects appeared to be based on the inference that high prices imply high quality and low prices imply low quality when no quality information is given. Other subjects appeared to assign a constant value to missing information. An averaging model that incorporates inferred as well as presented stimulus values is proposed.     

Cognitive components of naming in children: effects of referential uncertainty and stimulus realism.

The ease of picture naming in children was assessed as a function of two stimulus characteristics: (a) the number of available correct names for a picture (referential uncertainty) and (b) the degree to which a picture realistically represents the depicted object (stimulus realism). Two experiments employing different methods demonstrated that: (a) children named low uncertainty objects (those with a single dominant name, e.g., key, elephant) faster than high uncertainty objects (those with multiple possible correct names, e.g., lamp/light, stove/oven) and (b) this uncertainty effect arose at a stage of naming subsequent to object identification. Possible underlying mechanisms for the uncertainty effect include passive diffusion of activation over multiple object-name pathways or active inhibition among competing candidate names. Stimulus realism (colored photographs vs uncolored line drawings) did not consistently influence naming performance. Implications for understanding children's naming behavior are discussed.     

Effects of same-modality interference on immediate serial recall of auditory and visual information.

Two studies investigated the effects of same-modality interference on the immediate serial recall of auditorily and visually presented stimuli. Typically, research in which this task is used has been conducted in quiet rooms, excluding auditory information that is extraneous to the auditorily presented stimuli. However, visual information such as background items clearly within the subject's view have not been excluded during visual presentation. Therefore, in both the present studies, the authors used procedures that eliminated extra-list visual interference and introduced extra-list auditory interference. When same-modality interference was eliminated, weak visual recency effects were found, but they were smaller than those that were generated by auditorily presented items. Further, mid-list and end-of-list recall of visually presented stimuli was unaffected by the amount of interfering visual information. On the other hand, the introduction of auditory interference increased mid-list recall of auditory stimuli. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the mid-list effect occurred with a moderate, but not with a minimal or maximal, level of auditory interference, indicating that moderate amounts of auditory interference had an alerting effect that is not present in typical visual interference.     

Effects of laboratory-induced controllable and uncontrollable stress on Rorschach variables m and Y.

The research literature regarding stress and the Rorschach has frequently produced contradictory results. A possible explanation for the lack of consensus may be that past research has failed to consider the nature of the stressor. A potentially important dimension is whether the stressor is perceived as controllable or uncontrollable, particularly because these two types of stressors invoke distinctive sets of biobehavioral reactions. We examined the effects of experimentally induced uncontrollable and controllable stress on m and Y Rorschach responses. Uncontrollable laboratory stress was associated with an increase in both m and Y variants, whereas controllable laboratory stress was associated with an increase only in m. Potential implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The magnitude-of-reinforcement function in closed and open economies.

It has been hypothesized that the magnitude-of-reinforcement effect may differ in closed and open experimental economies. We determined the relationship between magnitude of reinforcement and response rate in three feeding conditions: a closed economy in which total intake was unrestricted, a closed economy in which total intake was restricted so as to maintain body weight at 85% of free-feeding weight, and a traditional open economy in which subjects received food outside the experimental session. In the closed economies, regardless of body weight, the rats responded faster for smaller pellets and when the fixed ratio for pellets was higher. In the open economy, there was no reliable effect of pellet size or pellet cost on response rate. It is concluded that although there are circumstances in which response rate is an immediate function of the parameters of reinforcement, rate is not necessarily a measure of response strength. Response rate may instead, or additionally, contribute to a strategy of reducing the costs associated with resource utilization.     

Effect of varying alarm schedules on acquisition and relapse parameters in the conditioning treatment of enuresis

Acquisition and relapse rates for 178 enuretic children were examined as a function of varying intermittent alarm schedules ranging from the standard (100%) bell-and-pad conditioning alarm treatment to a variable-ratio (VR) alarm schedule of 30–59%. Median follow-up time was 25 months. Children who experienced multiple wetting (MW) events beyond the third treatment week experienced twice as many wettings to reach dryness criterion as non-multiple wetting (NMW) children. Approximately one-third of the sample proved to be MW children. Optimal relapse results for NMW children were achieved with the 70–79% VR alarm schedule (10% relapse rate). MW children treated with the standard experienced a 100% relapse rate. For MW children the lowest relapse rates were attained with a 60–69% VR schedule (42% relapse). Older children experienced higher relapse rates than younger children, but age differences were eliminated with a 70–79%, VR alarm schedule. Collectively, the results demonstrate optimal VR intermittent alarm schedules for differen: categories of enuretic children.     

Role-reversed systematic desensitization in the treatment of a writing phobia

A role-reversal technique was employed to teach cognitive coping skills to a patient with a writing phobia. The patient presented desensitization scenes to the therapist and devised coping strategies for lessening anxiety. Treatment resulted in a reduction of anxiety and an increased ability to write in the presence of other people. A 10-mo. follow-up showed no relapse.     

Cross-tolerance between two brainstem sites supporting stimulation-produced analgesia

Male albino Holtzman rats were stereotaxically implanted with two bipolar stimulating electrodes, aimed at the periaqueductal gray matter of the brainstem. Focal brain stimulation-produced analgesia was assessed by the tail-flick method. After establishing that focal brain stimulation elicited analgesia at both sites, behavioral tolerance (i.e., reduced analgesia) was induced at one site through repeated stimulation. Upon elicitation of tolerance at one site, stimulation was immediately switched to the other site (which had not been previously rendered tolerant) and analgesia was assessed. Tail-flick latencies revealed transfer of behavioral tolerance from the site given repeated stimulation to the site not given repeated stimulation. While the mechanism involved in this cross-tolerance is not known, a neurochemical substrate may be involved.