A moderate financial incentive can increase effort,but not intelligence test performance in adult volunteers

A positive correlation between self-reported test-taking motivation and intelligence test performance has been reported. Additionally, some financial incentive experimental evidence suggests that intelligence test performance can be improved, based on the provision of financial incentives. However, only a small percentage of the experimental research has been conducted with adults. Furthermore, virtually none of the intelligence experimental research has measured the impact of financial incentives on test-taking motivation. Consequently, we conducted an experiment with 99 adult volunteers who completed a battery of intelligence tests under two conditions: no financial incentive and financial incentive (counterbalanced). We also measured self-reported test-taking importance and effort at time 1 and time 2. The financial incentive was observed to impact test-taking effort statistically significantly. By contrast, no statistically significant effects were observed for the intelligence test performance scores. Finally, the intelligence test scores were found to correlate positively with both test-taking importance (r_c = .28) and effort (r_c = .37), although only effort correlated uniquely with intelligence (partial r_c = .26). In conjunction with other empirical research, it is concluded that a financial incentive can increase test-taking effort. However, the potential effects on intelligence test performance in adult volunteers seem limited.     

Plan formation, retention, and execution in prospective memory: A new approach and age-related effects

Existing laboratory paradigms of prospective memory instruct subjects to remember to perform a single, isolated act at an appropriate point in the experiment. These paradigms do not completely capture many everyday complex prospective memory situations in which a series or set of delayed actions is planned to be executed in some subsequent period of time. We adapted a laboratory paradigm within which to study these prospective memory processes, and we investigated age-related influences on these prospective memory processes. Age-related declines were found in the planning, initiation, and execution of the set of tasks. In contrast, there were no age differences in plan retention or in the fidelity with which the plan was performed.     

Qualitative and quantitative considerations in encoding difficulty effects

We hypothesized that the effects of encoding difficulty on the memorability of verbal material would depend on both the type of processing induced by the difficulty manipulation and the type of processing afforded by the material. We predicted that if the processing induced by encoding difficulty were complementary to the processing afforded by the material, then difficulty would enhance recall more so than if the processing induced by the two sources were redundant. These expectations were tested by requiring subjects to process either a structured or an unstructured word list with either a sorting task or a pleasantness rating task; the difficulty of each orienting task was also manipulated. We assumed that sorting and pleasantness rating required primarily relational and individual-item processing, respectively, and that the structured and unstructured word lists afforded relational and individual-item processing, respectively. These assumptions were supported by clustering in free recall and by recognition performance. The primary finding was that difficult sorting increased recall only for the unrelated list, whereas difficult pleasantness judgments increased recall most robustly for the related list. These results support the present framework and help illuminate the boundary conditions of the “difficulty effect.”     

Developing a microcomputer laboratory at a small liberal arts college

This paper summarizes the development and initial implementation of a network of micro- computers for use by undergraduate psychology students at a small liberal arts college. We describe the hardware and the software, the general development plan, and some problems that should be considered by others who may plan to develop a similar laboratory.     

Improvement of mental imagery after prism exposure in neglect: a case study

Previous work has shown that various symptoms of unilateral neglect, including the pathological shift of the subjective midline to the right, may be improved by a short adaptation period to a prismatic shift of the visual field to the right. We report here the improvement of imagined neglect after prism exposure in a patient with a left unilateral neglect. Despite a strong neglect observed for mental images as well as for conventional tests, the mental evocation of left-sided information from an internal image of the map of France map was fully recovered following prism adaptation to the right. This improvement could not be explained by the alteration of visuomotor responses induced by the prism adaptation. Prism adaptation may therefore act not only on sensory-motor levels but also on a higher cognitive level of mental space representation and/or exploration.     

Propositions pour un positivisme

Summary The author tries to specify a philosophical attitude which could be considered a form of Positivism, but this does not necessarily mean that it coincides with the doctrine of Auguste Comte or with that of the Vienna Circle.In order to facilitate the exposition the author formulates eight theses whose abrupt character is merely a consequence of the manner of presentation and by no means a manifestation of dogmatism.Eachdatum presents itself as finite experience (1) which is organized with the help ofsymbols, either on the level of perception or on the level of language (2). Inside the perception itself a reduction of experience which is essentially pragmatic first constitutes thephenomena (3). Theobject which is constituted by science on the basis of the phenomena is merely structural and always delimited (4). Its constitution is unceasingly revisable and it never corresponds to an alleged essence of reality.What is here called dialectic never consists in a set of rules governing a movement of phenomena, objects, or ideas; it is a general, historical movement of experience itself, taken as a whole, and the specific movement of the symbolic statements which inform it. One should not confuse it with a kind of general logic, nor with a so-called science of totalities (5). Logic explains the rules of the symbolic systems (6), andscience is the mediate determination of objects by means of the symbolism, and is not an immediate determination of reality (7). It constructs coherent and effective models of phenomena.As far asphilosophy is concerned, it wishes to interpret experience as a totality, not-withstanding experience's finitude as datum (8). Thus it is radically distinguished from science in that philosophy does not intend to construct models, but to explain the meanings of the phenomena and, in general, of experience. That is why the category of truth taken in a rigorous sense does not apply to philosophy's statements.     

IDENTIFICATION DES EXPRESSIONS FACIALES EMOTIONNELLES PAR UN ECHANTILLON QUEBECOIS FRANCOPHONE*

The aim of this experiment was to study the identification of the facial expressions of six emotions in French-speaking québécois subjects. Two methods of stimuli presentation were used. The results showed high identification levels that were comparable to those of others working with various cultures. The simultaneous presentation of a facial expression and of the same face with a neutral expression had no effect on the subjects' accuracy of judgment. Female subjects had a higher identification level of disgust than male subjects. Finally, the analysis of the distribution of judgment errors partially confirmed previous data concerning confusions of emotions.     

The measurement of hallucinatory predisposition in male and female prisoners

This paper describes the development of a 12-item questionnaire scale to measure hallucinatory predisposition. The scale, which conforms to at least one mathematical model of unidimensionality, includes both pathological items and other items which appear to represent sub-clinical forms of hallucinatory experience.The scale was used to test certain hypotheses concerning the link between aggressive-paranoid tendencies and hallucinatory predisposition (using the Eysenck's P scale) in a prison sample. The significant results presented do confirm such a link, although the precise behavioural correlates of hallucinatory predisposition require further definition.     

Responding to allegations of scientific misconduct

Institutions in France are not yet well prepared to respond to allegations of scientific misconduct. Following a serious allegation in late 1997. INSERM,* the primary organization for medical and health-related research in France, began to reflect on this subject, aided by scientists and jurists. The conclusions have resulted in establishing a procedure to be followed in cases of alleged misconduct, and also in reinforcing the application of good laboratory practices within each laboratory. Guidelines for authorship practices and scientific assessment must also be considered. Even though each institution must remain responsible for responding to allegations of scientific misconduct within its doors, INSERM would like to see national, European, and international co-ordination about the methods of such response. Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (eng. French National Medical Research Institute) is known as INSERM. An earlier version of this paper was presented at a symposium, Scientific Misconduct: An International Perspective, organised by The Medical University of Warsaw, 16 November, 1998.     

A test of the diffusion model explanation for the worst performance rule using preregistration and blinding

People with higher IQ scores also tend to perform better on elementary cognitive-perceptual tasks, such as deciding quickly whether an arrow points to the left or the right Jensen (2006). The worst performance rule (WPR) finesses this relation by stating that the association between IQ and elementary-task performance is most pronounced when this performance is summarized by people’s slowest responses. Previous research has shown that the WPR can be accounted for in the Ratcliff diffusion model by assuming that the same ability parameter—drift rate—mediates performance in both elementary tasks and higher-level cognitive tasks. Here we aim to test four qualitative predictions concerning the WPR and its diffusion model explanation in terms of drift rate. In the first stage, the diffusion model was fit to data from 916 participants completing a perceptual two-choice task; crucially, the fitting happened after randomly shuffling the key variable, i.e., each participant’s score on a working memory capacity test. In the second stage, after all modeling decisions were made, the key variable was unshuffled and the adequacy of the predictions was evaluated by means of confirmatory Bayesian hypothesis tests. By temporarily withholding the mapping of the key predictor, we retain flexibility for proper modeling of the data (e.g., outlier exclusion) while preventing biases from unduly influencing the results. Our results provide evidence against the WPR and suggest that it may be less robust and less ubiquitous than is commonly believed.