Predicting the decision to pursue mediation in civil disputes: a hierarchical classes analysis

Clients (N = 185) involved in civil court cases completed the CPR Institute's Mediation Screen, which is designed to assist in making a decision about pursuing mediation. The authors modeled data using hierarchical classes analysis (HICLAS), a clustering algorithm that places clients into 1 set of classes and CPRMS items into another set of classes. HICLAS then links the sets of classes so that any class of clients can be identified in terms of the classes of items they endorsed. HICLAS-derived item classes reflected 2 underlying themes: (a) suitability of the dispute for a problem-solving process and (b) potential benefits of mediation. All clients who perceived that mediation would be beneficial also believed that the context of their conflict was favorable to mediation; however, not all clients who saw a favorable context believed they would benefit from mediation. The majority of clients who agreed to pursue mediation endorsed items reflecting both contextual suitability and perceived benefits of mediation.     

George Herbert Mead and the Allen controversy at the University of Wisconsin

This essay uses previously unpublished correspondence of George Herbert Mead to tell the story of his involvement in the aftermath of a political dispute that took place at the University of Wisconsin during the years 1914-1915. It seeks thereby to clarify the historical significance of an article he published on this controversy in late 1915. Taken together with relevant information about the educational activities of William H. Allen of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, Mead's correspondence and article throw helpful light upon his understanding of how an educational survey of a university should proceed; they also show how he went about the task of evaluating a failed attempt at such a survey.     

Similarity and categorization of environmental sounds

Four experiments investigated the acoustical correlates of similarity and categorization judgments of environmental sounds. In Experiment 1, similarity ratings were obtained from pairwise comparisons of recordings of 50 environmental sounds. A three-dimensional multidimensional scaling (MDS) solution showed three distinct clusterings of the sounds, which included harmonic sounds, discrete impact sounds, and continuous sounds. Furthermore, sounds from similar sources tended to be in close proximity to each other in the MDS space. The orderings of the sounds on the individual dimensions of the solution were well predicted by linear combinations of acoustic variables, such as harmonicity, amount of silence, and modulation depth. The orderings of sounds also correlated significantly with MDS solutions for similarity ratings of imagined sounds and for imagined sources of sounds, obtained in Experiments 2 and 3--as was the case for free categorization of the 50 sounds (Experiment 4)--although the categorization data were less well predicted by acoustic features than were the similarity data.     

Shape effects on memory for location

The participants were 40 students who were briefly presented 32 dot locations, one at a time, and attempted to reproduce each location after a short delay. Half of the participants completed the task with the surrounding shapes being a circle, a horizontal ellipse, and a vertical ellipse; for the other half, the surrounding shapes were a square, a triangle, and a pentagon. Elongation of the task field along an axis led to exaggerated bias along that axis, but the pattern of bias was fairly constant across the shapes. The data were modeled by assuming that bias in estimation was due to the weighting of spatial category prototypes. Modeling indicated that shape affected spacing of prototypes, but there was no evidence that it affected the number of prototypes. These results were consistent with use of a viewer-based frame of reference, with prototypes reflecting four spatial quadrants generated by left—right and up—down distinctions from the viewer’s perspective.     

Linking working memory and long-term memory: a computational model of the learning of new words

The nonword repetition (NWR) test has been shown to be a good predictor of children's vocabulary size. NWR performance has been explained using phonological working memory, which is seen as a critical component in the learning of new words. However, no detailed specification of the link between phonological working memory and long-term memory (LTM) has been proposed. In this paper, we present a computational model of children's vocabulary acquisition (EPAM-VOC) that specifies how phonological working memory and LTM interact. The model learns phoneme sequences, which are stored in LTM and mediate how much information can be held in working memory. The model's behaviour is compared with that of children in a new study of NWR, conducted in order to ensure the same nonword stimuli and methodology across ages. EPAM-VOC shows a pattern of results similar to that of children: performance is better for shorter nonwords and for wordlike nonwords, and performance improves with age. EPAM-VOC also simulates the superior performance for single consonant nonwords over clustered consonant nonwords found in previous NWR studies. EPAM-VOC provides a simple and elegant computational account of some of the key processes involved in the learning of new words: it specifies how phonological working memory and LTM interact; makes testable predictions; and suggests that developmental changes in NWR performance may reflect differences in the amount of information that has been encoded in LTM rather than developmental changes in working memory capacity.     

Capturing the effect of a title on multiple levels of comprehension

Researchers have manipulated text comprehension by creating texts that require a title to be understood, butthe source of the comprehension deficit has not been fully examined. We created comprehension quizzes for these texts that measure the surface form, textbase, and situation model. In three experiments, participants read passages with or without a title and then answered quiz questions. Results showed that the absence of a title influenced theaccuracy rate of answering situation model questions more than answering surface form or textbase questions. This suggests that the situation model is the primary source o f difficulty for these texts. These passages and quizzes can beused in future research that requires controlled manipulation and measurement of situation level comprehension.     

The Color of Sin: White and Black Are Perceptual Symbols of Moral Purity and Pollution

ABSTRACT— Three studies examined automatic associations between words with moral and immoral meanings and the colors black and white. The speed of color naming in a Stroop task was faster when words in black concerned immorality (e.g., greed ), rather than morality, and when words in white concerned morality (e.g., honesty ), rather than immorality. In addition, priming immorality by having participants hand-copy an unethical statement speeded identification of words in the black font. Making immorality salient in this way also increased the moral Stroop effect among participants who had not previously shown it. In the final study, participants also rated consumer products. Moral meanings interfered with color naming most strongly among those participants who rated personal cleaning products as especially desirable. The moderation of the moral Stroop effect by individual differences in concerns about personal cleanliness suggests that ideas about purity and pollution are central to seeing morality in black and white.     

A cost-effective high-throughput digital system for observation and acquisition of animal behavioral data

We have designed and implemented a low-cost digital system using closed-circuit television cameras coupled to a digital acquisition system for the recording of in vivo behavioral data in rodents and for allowing observation and recording of more than 10 animals simultaneously at a reduced cost, as compared with commercially available solutions. This system has been validated using two experimental rodent models: one involving chemically induced seizures and one assessing appetite and feeding. We present observational results showing comparable or improved levels of accuracy and observer consistency between this new system and traditional methods in these experimental models, discuss advantages of the presented system over conventional analog systems and commercially available digital systems, and propose possible extensions to the system and applications to nonrodent studies.     

The effect of cellular telephone conversation and music listening on response time in braking

Driver distraction contributes to vehicle accidents, with estimates as high as one-half of crashes being distraction-related. The purpose of this experiment was to explore potential distractions by testing the effects of cellular telephone conversation and music listening on response time and its subcomponents of reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) in a simulated braking task. Participants (N = 27) sat at a simulated driving station and released the accelerator and depressed the brake pedal as quickly as possible following activation of a simulated brake lamp. The braking task was performed under each of six conditions including: (a) the control (braking task only); (b) music playing at 66 dBA; (c) music playing at 78 dBA; (d) cellular telephone conversation; (e) cellular telephone conversation and music at 66 dBA; and (f) cellular telephone conversation and music at 78 dBA. Cellular telephone conversation slowed response time, yet music had no effect on response time. While the RT results generally mirrored those of response time (i.e., RT was also slowed by the telephone conversation), interestingly, MT was actually faster when the cellular telephone conversation was present compared to when it was not. Participants appear to have anticipated slower RT in the presence of the cellular telephone conversation, and attempted to compensate by executing a more rapid movement to the brake pedal.     

Quantifying Intervention Intensity: A Systematic Approach to Evaluating Student Response to Increasing Intervention Frequency

Response to intervention (RTI) has been discussed as a new model of assessment. Although the basic process by which RTI works has received frequent attention in the literature, the available research leaves several important questions unanswered (Kavale et al. in Learn Disabil Q 28(1): 2–16, 2005). One concept within RTI that has received little empirical consideration is intervention intensity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the application of increased intervention frequency on the mathematics performance of students and to evaluate this increased frequency as a systematic means of increasing and quantifying intervention strength. Results indicate that although all students were responsive to the intervention, some participants were sensitive only to more frequent application of the treatment or at more intense levels of treatment. Through this methodology a means of quantifying treatment intensity was also identified and implications for future research are discussed.