Separating habit and recollection in young and older adults: effects of elaborative processing and distinctiveness

An extension of L. L. Jacoby's (1991) process-dissociation procedure was used to examine the effects of aging on recollection and automatic influences of memory (habit). Experiment 1 showed that older adults were impaired in their ability to engage in recollection but did not differ from young adults in their reliance on habit. Elderly adults were also less able to exploit distinctive contextual information to enhance recollection. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that with more supportive conditions, older adults were able to benefit from distinctive contextual information. Quantitative and qualitative deficits in recollective abilities are interpreted within a dual-process model of memory. The problem of distinguishing between a deficit in recollection and a deficit in inhibitory processes in older adults (e.g., L. Hasher & R. T. Zacks, 1988) and the importance of this distinction for purposes of repairing memory performance are discussed.     

Gender,gender role identity,and children's reported feelings toward the same and opposite sex

The present study explored the relative importance of gender role identity, gender role attitudes, and biological gender in determining the intensity of anger, disgust, hurt, envy, fear, pity, and liking reported toward same- and opposite-sex children. Sixty male and 60 female 6–12-year-old children reported on the intensity of emotions that a hypothetical child would experience toward same- and opposite-sex children in various situations. The Children's Personal Attitudes Questionnaire, the Children's Attitudes toward Women Scale, and a self-reported toy preference measure were used to assess gender role identity and attitudes. The results indicated that girls were more angry at males than at females, and that both sexes tended to be more hurt and disgusted by opposite-sex than by same-sex children. Girls also tended to report more fear than did boys, and both sexes tended to report more fear of males than of females. Most importantly, gender role identity and attitudes accounted for more of the variance in predicting the quality of reported emotions than did biological gender. Biological gender predicted to only one feeling: pity toward males, after the variance accounted for by the gender role traits was removed. In general, both boys and girls who scored highly on feminine gender role identity were both communal and vulnerable in their reported emotions (high in reported liking, fear, and hurt). Children's reported feelings toward the same- and opposite-sex children seemed to be based on the evaluation of whether other children's biological gender differed from the children's own gender role identity characteristics.This research was supported by a Gender Roles Grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. We are grateful for their support. The authors wish to thank the parents, teachers, and children in the Milton, Norwood, and Watertown school systems, and especially Frank Guiliano, Rod Smith, and Daniel O'Connor. We are also grateful for the computer and statistical expertise of Robert H. Harrison, John Houlihan, and Lance S. Davidow, and for the editorial comments made by Robert H. Harrison.     

Proprioceptive control of goal-directed movements in man, studied by means of vibratory muscle tendon stimulation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of propriomuscular feedback in the control of pluriarticular pointing movements, performed without visual feedback toward visual targets. The proprioceptive inputs were distorted during movements by applying vibration to the distal tendon of the biceps muscle. Various movement and vibration durations were imposed. The results show that vibration affects the spatial outcome of the movements. The effects of vibration were movement time-independent when the durations were shorter than 450 ms and became movement time-dependent with longer durations. Moreover, the effects of vibration became more marked when a short vibration was applied at the end rather than at the beginning of a slow movement. These studies suggest that at least two types of proprioceptive control loops may be involved in correcting this kind of movement, depending on the execution time. In slow movements, the final phase might be a privileged period for on-line, propriomuscular-based corrections. Lastly, it emerged that the regulation of a goal-directed movement on the basis of proprioceptive feedback processing can take place within at most 200 ms.     

Kinematics of aiming in direction and amplitude: a developmental study.

The patterns of aimed movements to visual targets were analyzed in children aged 6, 8 and 10. Tasks with direction and/or amplitude requirements were used. The tasks were performed both with and without vision. Peak velocity, acceleration and deceleration and their relative temporal occurrence were evaluated. Overall, the 6- and 10-year-olds exhibited higher peak velocity and acceleration when performing the pure directional task than when performing tasks with an amplitude or stopping requirement. On the contrary, 8-year-olds showed similar peak acceleration and velocity across all three tasks. Similarly, when performing the pure directional task, the 6- and 10-year-olds reached their peak velocity and acceleration relatively later in time than the 8-year-olds. Vision of movement increased the peak velocity in all experimental tasks and peak acceleration was increased only in the pure directional task. Thus, movement kinematics varied according to the task requirements and age. Eight-year-olds showed greater propensity to feedback control in all tasks, suggesting an over-inhibition in their approach patterns, whereas 10-year-olds tended to use feedforward processes, with a shortened deceleration phase.     

Hebb repetition effects in visual memory: the roles of verbal rehearsal and distinctiveness

A version of the Hebb repetition task was used with faces to explore the generality of the effect in a nonverbal domain. In the baseline condition, a series of upright faces was presented, and participants were asked to reconstruct the original order. Performance in this condition was compared to another in which the same stimuli were accompanied by concurrent verbal rehearsal to examine whether Hebb learning is dependent on verbal processing. Baseline performance was also compared to a condition in which the same faces were presented inverted. This comparison was used to determine the importance in Hebb learning of being able to visually distinguish between the list items. The results produced classic serial position curves that were equivalent over conditions with Hebb repetition effects being in evidence only for upright faces and verbal suppression as having no effect. These findings are interpreted as posing a challenge to current models derived from verbal-domain data.     

Screening for motor coordination challenges in children using teacher ratings of physical ability and activity

We examined the effectiveness of a teacher-based rating scale called the teacher estimation of activity form (TEAF) to screen for developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in children. A random selection of 15 of 75 schools from the District School Board of Niagara in Ontario, Canada was chosen for this study. Every consented child in Grade 4 (n=502) was evaluated for probable DCD (pDCD) in school using the short form Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency (BOTMP-SF). Each student also completed the children's self perceptions of adequacy in and predilection toward physical activity (CSAPPA) scale, participation questionnaire, and Léger 20-meter shuttle run, and had their height and weight measured. The 27 children (5.1%) who scored below the 5th percentile on BOTMP-SF were designated as pDCD cases and the 475 children who scored above the 5th percentile served as controls. Results showed that mean TEAF scores were significantly lower for pDCD children than controls (p<.001). Total TEAF scores ranging from 28 to 32 were preferred in maintaining good sensitivity (.74, 95% CI=.55-.87 to .85, 95% CI=.68-.94). The area under the ROC curve was .77 (95% CI, .68-.86) for the TEAF total score, and some individual items performed approximately as well as the full scale. The TEAF was positively correlated with measures of physical activity and fitness. The TEAF appears to be an effective tool in screening for DCD, particularly in a population setting. Considering the brevity of the TEAF and the discriminative power of individual items, this instrument would be effective in an abbreviated version.     

Relationship of temporal lobe volumes to neuropsychological test performance in healthy children

Ecological validity of neuropsychological assessment includes the ability of tests to predict real-world functioning and/or covary with brain structures. Studies have examined the relationship between adaptive skills and test performance, with less focus on the association between regional brain volumes and neurobehavioral function in healthy children. The present study examined the relationship between temporal lobe gray matter volumes and performance on two neuropsychological tests hypothesized to measure temporal lobe functioning (visual perception-VP; peabody picture vocabulary test, third edition-PPVT-III) in 48 healthy children ages 5-18 years. After controlling for age and gender, left and right temporal and left occipital volumes were significant predictors of VP. Left and right frontal and temporal volumes were significant predictors of PPVT-III. Temporal volume emerged as the strongest lobar correlate with both tests. These results provide convergent and discriminant validity supporting VP as a measure of the "what" system; but suggest the PPVT-III as a complex measure of receptive vocabulary, potentially involving executive function demands.     

Serial position effects in short-term visual memory: A SIMPLE explanation?

A version of Sternberg's (1966) short-term visual memory recognition paradigm with pictures of unfamiliar faces as stimuli was used in three experiments to assess the applicability of the distinctiveness-based SIMPLE model proposed by Brown, Neath, and Chater (2002). Initial simulations indicated that the amount of recency predicted increased as the parameter measuring the psychological distinctiveness of the stimulus material (c) increased and that the amount of primacy was dependent on the extent of proactive interference from previously presented stimuli. The data from Experiment 1, in which memory lists of four and five faces varying in visual similarity were used, confirmed the predicted extended recency effect. However, changes in visual similarity were not found to produce changes in c. In Experiments 2 and 3, the conditions that influence the magnitude of c were explored. These revealed that both the familiarity of the stimulus class before testing and changes in familiarity, due to perceptual learning, influenced distinctiveness, as indexed by the parameter c. Overall, the empirical data from all three experiments were well fit by SIMPLE.     

Information processing and movement optimization during development: kinematics of cyclical pointing in 5- to 11-year-old children

The authors studied the development of movement control in speed-accuracy tradeoff conditions in children aged 5-11 years and in adults performing cyclical pointings. Twelve difficulty levels (IDs), ranging from 2 to 6.58 bits, were defined (P. M. Fitts, 1954). Peak and time to peak velocity, acceleration, and deceleration, and acceleration profiles as a function of hand position (Hooke's portraits) were analyzed. Movement time decreased with age and was less affected by ID. Peak velocity and acceleration increased, acceleration and deceleration were decreasingly time consuming, and movement profiles turned to increased harmonicity with age and task easiness. Nevertheless, the developmental trends differed between parameters. Gain in velocity seemed chiefly dependent on improved muscular cooperation patterns before 7 years of age and on improved information processing from age 7 onward; achievement of an optimized strategy in the speed-accuracy tradeoff occurred at age 11 years.