Characteristics of 12th-grade students seriously deficient in spatial ability

When spatial ability was regressed on a measure of general intelligence in a large national sample of 12th-graders, there was a distinct downturn in the regression line at about -2 SD units. A bimodal distribution of spatial ability was found among these low scoring students, suggesting 2 qualitatively different types of individuals. Relative to students of expected spatial ability, those below expected in spatial ability were high on verbal skills and low on performance skills. Students unexpectedly low in spatial ability performed relatively well on cognitive tests that required answering unambiguous questions by retrieving information directly from long term memory, whereas they performed relatively poorly on tests requiring inference and perception of relations among novel stimuli. Students unexpectedly low in spatial ability performed especially poorly at tests involving visual-spatial perception skills. Results were similar for both sexes. The relatively poor performance of those unexpectedly low in spatial ability does not appear to be related to health problems, personality, interest differences, or biographical data. An organic impairment possibly related to lateralization represents a reasonable causal hypothesis for these data.     

On the relation between preference and resistance to change

Nevin (1979) noted that preference in concurrent chains and resistance to change in multiple schedules were correlated, in that both measures were affected similarly by variations in parameters of reinforcement such as rate, immediacy, and magnitude. To investigate the relationship between preference and resistance to change directly, we used a within-session procedure that arranged concurrent chains in one half of the session and a multiple schedule in the other half. The same variable-interval schedules served as terminal links in concurrent chains and as the components of the multiple schedule, and were signaled by the same stimuli. After performances had stabilized, responding in the multiple schedule was disrupted by delivering response-independent reinforcement during the blackout periods between components. Both preference in concurrent chains and relative resistance to change of multiple-schedule responding were well described as power functions of relative reinforcement rate, as predicted by current quantitative models (Grace, 1994; Nevin, 1992b). In addition, unsystematic variation in preference and resistance to change was positively correlated, which suggests that preference and resistance to change are independent measures of a single construct. That construct could be described as the learning that occurs regarding the prevailing conditions of reinforcement in a distinctive stimulus situation.     

Adaptive Individual Differences

Individuals differ in innumerable ways, some adaptive, some maladaptive, and some neutral. Personality theories, we argue, can profit from distinguishing among these importantly different types of individual variation. This article outlines a taxonomy of origins of individual differences— environmental sources of adaptive differences (e.g., early environmental calibration), heritable sources of adaptive differences (e.g., adaptive self-assessment of heritable qualities), nonadaptive sources of individual differences (e.g., incidental by-products of adaptive variation), and maladaptive sources of individual differences (e.g., epigenetic trauma). The second section outlines empirical procedures for confirming or falsifying the differing conceptions of individual differences, with a special focus on empirically distinguishing adaptive individual differences from those that are maladaptive or nonadaptive. The final section highlights the importance of individual differences for solving social adaptive problems.     

An analysis of speech perception in word deafness

A patient with a rather pure word deafness showed extreme suppression of right ear signals under dichotic conditions, suggesting that speech signals were being processed in the right hemisphere. Systematic errors in the identification and discrimination of natural and synthetic stop consonants further indicated that speech sounds were not being processed in the normal manner. Auditory comprehension improved considerably however, when the range of speech stimuli was limited by contextual constraints. Possible implications for the mechanism of word deafness are discussed.     

Maternal career-orientation as related to parental identification in college women

The relation of identification preferences in college women to maternal work history and maternal career attitudes was examined, using direct, forced-choice questions concerning perceived similarity and desire to emulate (“pattern preference”) the mother or the father. It was expected that mothers who participated in work and desired a career would be more attractive models, compared to the father, than mothers who were not career-oriented. These expectations were based upon the assumption that role status, power, and satisfaction, which are important in identification motivation, are generally greater in working mothers. Findings tended to support this argument and were interpreted with the aid of subjects' explanations of their identification choices.     

Rapid acquisition in concurrent chains: evidence for a decision model

Pigeons' choice in concurrent chains can adapt to rapidly changing contingencies. Grace, Bragason, and McLean (2003) found that relative initial-link response rate was sensitive to the immediacy ratio in the current session when one of the terminal-link fixed-interval schedules was changed daily according to a pseudorandom binary sequence (e.g., Schofield & Davison, 1997). The present experiment tested whether the degree of variation in delays across sessions had any effect on acquisition rate in Grace et al.'s (2003) rapid-acquisition procedure. In one condition ("minimal variation"), the left terminal link was always fixed-interval 8 s and the right terminal link was either fixed-interval 4 s or fixed-interval 16 s. In the other condition ("maximal variation"), a unique pair of fixed-interval values was used in each session. Responding was sensitive to the current-session immediacy ratio in both conditions, but across subjects there was no systematic difference in sensitivity. These results challenge the view that initial-link responding in the rapid-acquisition procedure is determined by changes in the learned value of the terminal-link stimuli, and suggests instead that a process resembling categorical discrimination may control performance. A decision model based on the assumption that delays are categorized as short or long relative to the history of delays provided a good account of the data and shows promise in being able to explain other choice phenomena.     

The relationships between television viewing in midlife and the development of Alzheimer's disease in a case-control study

The relationship between leisure activities and development of cognitive impairment in aging has been the subject of recent research. We examined television viewing in association with risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a case-control study. Given recent focus on the importance of intellectually stimulating activities as preventive measures against cognitive decline, it is important to examine the effects of less stimulating but common activities. Data are from 135 Alzheimer's disease cases and 331 healthy controls. Demographic characteristics and life history questionnaire responses on the number of hours spent on 26 leisure activities during middle-adulthood (ages 40-59) were analyzed. Logistic regression was used to examine the effects of middle-adulthood leisure activities on case vs. control status. Results indicate that for each additional daily hour of middle-adulthood television viewing the associated risk of AD development, controlling for year of birth, gender, income, and education, increased 1.3 times. Participation in intellectually stimulating activities and social activities reduced the associated risk of developing AD. Findings are consistent with the view that participation in non-intellectually stimulating activities is associated with increased risk of developing AD, and suggest television viewing may be a marker of reduced participation in intellectually stimulating activities.     

Internal,external, genetic,or cultural? Lay theories about racial health disparities predict perceived threat,adherence, and policy support

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that Black and Latinx communities experienced a disproportionate burden of illness. The goal of this study is to investigate laypeople's attribution of these disparities. We hypothesized the following four potential attributions: external causes (e.g. systemic racism), internal causes (e.g. personal choices), cultural causes (e.g., being close knit), or genetic causes (e.g., being more vulnerable for genetic reasons). Data from 447 participants revealed that lay theories involving external factors were the most endorsed, whereas theories relating to genetic causes were the least endorsed. Our analyses further revealed that external attributions predicted broader COVID-19 relevant outcomes (i.e., perceived threat of COVID-19, adherence to CDC guidelines, and support for government policies in response to COVID-19), even after controlling for political orientation, participant race, and other attributions. This research provides insight into how lay people's explanations for disparities can predict their reactions to the pandemic.