The influence of phonological neighborhood on visual word perception

In the research reported here, we investigated the influence of phonological neighborhood density on the processing of words in the visual lexical decision task. The results of the first experiment revealed that words with large phonological neighborhoods were verified more rapidly than words with small phonological neighborhoods. In the second experiment, we replicated this effect with a more tightly controlled set of stimuli. These results demonstrate the importance of phonological codes when processing visually presented letter strings. We relate this research to previous results on semantic and orthographic neighborhoods and discuss the results within the context of a model in which lexical decisions are based on stimulus familiarity.     

Age-related equivalence and deficit in knowledge updating of cue effectiveness

Knowledge updating involves learning about cue effectiveness based on task experience. Priorresearch has yielded inconsistent conclusions regarding age and knowledge updating. To resolve this inconsistency, the authors analyzed the effects of aging within a single paradigm. Participants studied cue-target associates during 2 study-test trials. Cues included rhyme cues and highly effective category cues. On each study-test trial, different items were presented, and participants predicted recall performance, received a cued recall test, and postdicted performance. Knowledge updating was operationalized as an improvement in the accuracy of predictive judgments across trials. An age deficit was evident in improvements in absolute accuracy, whereas age equivalence was evident in relative accuracy. Evidence suggested that deficient inferential processes contributed to the age deficit in knowledge updating.     

Factor structure of the Spielberger Anger Expression scales when used with Australian prisoners

The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory administered to prison inmates has supported the factor structure of the three anger expression scales although this structure has not been verified with Australian participants. Data collected from 397 Western Australian male prisoners produced a factor structure consistent with the scale structure outlined in the 1991 manual. Scale means and standard deviations were similar to those reported for U.S. and Canadian prisoners. It is therefore appropriate to use the standard scoring procedures with Australian male prisoners.     

Tarski and the Metalinguistic Liar

I offer an interpretation of a familiar, but poorly understood portion of Tarskis work on truth – bringing to light a number of unnoticed aspects of Tarskis work. A serious misreading of this part of Tarski to be found in Scott Soames Understanding Truth is treated in detail. Soamesreading vies with the textual evidence, and would make Tarskis position inconsistent in an unsubtle way. I show that Soames does not finally have a coherent interpretation of Tarski. This is unfortunate, since Soames ultimately arrogates to himself a key position that he has denied to Tarski and which is rightfully Tarskis own.     

Ethnic self-awareness as a function of ethnic group status,group composition,and ethnic identity orientation

This study found that ethnic self-awareness (i.e., the extent to which people are consciously aware of their ethnicity at any given moment) has different meanings for European Americans and Asian Americans and for Asian Americans with different ethnic identity orientations. The authors found main effects of ethnic group status and ethnic composition on ethnic self-awareness when comparing Asian Americans and European Americans. There was also an interaction effect between ethnic composition and ethnic identity orientation for Asian Americans when examining ethnic self-awareness. Findings are discussed in relation to theories that predict salience of ethnicity and to educators and practitioners who deal with ethnic minority group members.     

Semantic neighborhood effects on the recognition of ambiguous words

The effect of semantic neighborhood on the processing of ambiguous words was examined in two lexical decision experiments. Semantic neighborhood was defined in terms of semantic set size and network connectivity. In Experiment 1, the variables of semantic set size, network connectivity, and ambiguity were crossed. An ambiguity advantage was observed only within small-set low-connectivity words. In Experiment 2, the effect of network connectivity on the processing of words of high and low meaning relatedness was examined. Participants responded more rapidly to words of high meaning relatedness, relative to words of low meaning relatedness, but only within high-connectivity words. These results are interpreted within a framework in which both semantic feedback processes and meaning-level competition can affect the recognition of semantically ambiguous words.     

Meaning for Radical Contextualists: Travis and Gadamer on Why Words Matter

Charles Travis and Hans‐Georg Gadamer both affirm radical contextualism, the view that natural language is ineliminably context‐sensitive. However, they offer different accounts of the role linguistic meaning plays in determining the contents of utterances. I discuss the differences between Travis's and Gadamer's views of meaning and offer an argument in favour of the latter. I argue that Travis's view assumes a principled distinction between literal and figurative speech that is at odds with his wider contextualist commitments. By contrast, Gadamer's view, on which meaning is ‘fundamentally metaphorical,’ makes no such assumption and thus avoids the difficulty.     

Feature integration in basic detection and localization tasks: Insights from the attentional orienting literature

Once presumed to be intimately related, feature integration and the consequences of attentional orienting are now often studied separately. Yet the paradigms used to study each can be highly similar; participants respond to a stimulus, which is then followed by a second stimulus, matching or mismatching the first on some feature(s). Given the similarities between the methods, it seems likely that these fields each could gain insights regarding their own work by looking at the other. Here we note a peculiarity of feature integration research: It relies on paradigms that require or encourage participants to identify the nonspatial features of a stimulus in order to make the correct response. This leaves open the question of whether feature integration effects can be found in tasks that do not require stimulus identity (e.g., color or shape) processing. To answer this question, we reviewed attentional orienting studies that manipulated whether stimulus identity repeated but that required only detection or localization responses, irrespective of stimulus identity. With one exception, feature integration effects were absent from those experiments. Furthermore, we attempted to replicate the exception and found no feature integration effects. Our review shows that detection and localization paradigms are particularly useful for studying the consequences of attentional orienting in the absence of integration effects, and that these same tasks provide a baseline to understand the sources of feature integration effects with only slightly variations in the basic task.     

(Re) defining salesperson motivation: current status,main challenges,and research directions

The construct of motivation is one of the central themes in selling and sales management research. Yet, to-date no review article exists that surveys the construct (both from an extrinsic and intrinsic motivation context), critically evaluates its current status, examines various key challenges apparent from the extant research, and suggests new research opportunities based on a thorough review of past work. The authors explore how motivation is defined, major theories underpinning motivation, how motivation has historically been measured, and key methodologies used over time. In addition, attention is given to principal drivers and outcomes of salesperson motivation. A summarizing appendix of key articles in salesperson motivation is provided.     

A Comparison of Error-Correction Procedures Within Audio–Visual Conditional Discrimination Training

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often emit errors during the establishment of conditional discriminations. These children may not respond to more traditional error-correction procedures, such as least-to-most prompting. In this study, we compared two other types of error-correction procedures, namely embedding an identity-matching task as a differential observing response (DOR; Fisher et al. in J Appl Behav Anal 40:489–499, 2007) compared with a second-order fixed ratio 3/fixed ratio 1 (FR3 FR1) schedule with response cost procedure (Fisher et al. in J Appl Behav Anal 47:738–748, 2014). Results garnered from a multiple baseline design with embedded adapted alternating treatment design components demonstrated that the identity-matching/DOR procedure lead to superior acquisition of conditional discriminations for two boys with ASD. These findings suggest that for audio-conditional discrimination training, the identity-matching/DOR method may be more effective over the second-order FR3 FR1 with response cost approach.