Does priming specific syllables during tip-of-the-tongue states facilitate word retrieval in older adults?

This experiment investigated whether phonological priming of syllables helps resolve tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states in young and older adults. Young, young-old, and old-old adults read general knowledge questions and responded "know," "TOT," or "don't know" accordingly. Participants then read a list of 10 words that included 3 phonological primes corresponding solely to the first, middle, or last syllable of the target word. Young and young-old adults resolved more TOTs after first-syllable primes, but old-old adults showed no increase in TOT resolution following any primes. These results indicate that presentation of the first syllable of a missing word strengthens the weakened phonological connections that cause TOTs and increases word retrieval, but not for old-old adults who experience greater deficits in the transmission of priming across these connections.     

Odorant quality perception: a metric individual differences approach

Perceptual spaces, in which similar stimuli are located close to each other and dissimilar stimuli are located far apart, have aided in the understanding of the physiological and psychological bases for sensory quality coding. Differences in perception between individuals should be reflected by differences in the spatial relationships between stimuli. If the dimensionality of the perceptual space is small (e.g., color space), individual differences that reflect specific pathologies are readily apparent from visual inspection. On the other hand, if the dimensionality of the perceptual space is large (as is proposed for odor space), visual inspection alone may not reveal individual differences in quality perception. The present work presents an information-theory-based method for quantifying individual differences in quality perception from perceptual confusion matrices. The ability of this method to quantify individual differences in quality perception is shown in a hypothetical example of specific anosmia. Finally, the method is applied to the examination of intrasubject consistency of odorant quality perception.     

Task demands and limb apraxia in stroke

The present study was designed to examine the frequency and severity of apraxia in patients with left- or right-hemisphere stroke in both pantomime and imitation conditions and to compare the frequency of apraxia in each stroke group across the three patterns of apraxia described in Roy's model (Roy, 1996). Ninety-nine stroke patients and 15 age-matched healthy adults performed eight transitive gestures to pantomime and to imitation. Gestural performance was quantified as accuracy on five performance dimensions; a composite score, an arithmetic combination of the five performance dimensions, was used as an index of the overall accuracy. Analyses revealed a comparable proportion of patients in each stroke group were classified as apraxic in the imitation condition, but a higher proportion of left stroke patients were apraxic in the pantomime condition. The severity of apraxia in each stroke group and the performance dimensions affected were, however, comparable. Analyses of the patterns of apraxia (pantomime alone, imitation alone or apraxia in both conditions) revealed a higher frequency of apraxia in both stroke groups for the pattern reflecting apraxia in both conditions, indicating that a disruption at the movement execution stage of gesture performance was most common.     

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On the effects of signaling reinforcer probability and magnitude in delayed matching to sample

Two experiments examined whether postsample signals of reinforcer probability or magnitude affected the accuracy of delayed matching to sample in pigeons. On each trial, red or green choice responses that matched red or green stimuli seen shortly before a variable retention interval were reinforced with wheat access. In Experiment 1, the reinforcer probability was either 0.2 or 1.0 for both red and green responses. Reinforcer probability was signaled by line or cross symbols that appeared after the sample had been presented. In Experiment 2, all correct responses were reinforced, and the signaled reinforcer durations were 1.0 s and 4.5 s. Matching was more accurate when larger or more probable reinforcers were signaled, independently of retention interval duration. Because signals were presented postsample, the effects were not the result of differential attention to the sample.     

Perceptions of Dating Violence Following a Sexualor Nonsexual Betrayal of Trust: Effects of Gender, Sexism, Acceptance of Rape Myths, and Vengeance Motivation

College womens (N = 220) and mens (N = 208) perceptions of violence following a betrayal by a romantic partner were studied in an independent groups design that varied gender of the participant, type of betrayal (sexual or nonsexual), and gender of the betrayed individual. Participants read one of four brief vignettes in which the betrayed person slapped his/her partner and made his/her lip bleed. Justification of this action was rated on 10 items. Factor analysis of these items indicated the presence of three factors for men and four for women. Both men and women indicated that hitting the partner, getting even, and being angry were more justifiable following a sexual betrayal. The hitting of a male partner by a betrayed woman was perceived as more justified than the hitting of a female partner by a betrayed man. In absolute terms, hitting and getting even by both women and men were generally viewed as unjustifiable, whereas being angry was viewed as justifiable. For both women and men, scores on the Vengeance Scale (Stuckless & Goranson, 1992) and Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1995) were related to getting even. For men, the Hostile Sexism Scale (Glick & Fiske, 2001) was related to getting even or being angry and breaking up. Results indicated that perceptions of reactions to betrayal are related to type of betrayal and to the dispositional characteristics of the perceiver.     

Emotional and deliberative reactions to a public crisis: Mad Cow disease in France

Although most theories of choice are cognitive, recent research has emphasized the role of emotions. We used a novel context--the Mad Cow crisis in France--to investigate how emotions alter choice even when consequences are held constant. A field study showed that individuals reduced beef consumption in months after many newspaper articles featured the emotional label "Mad Cow," but beef consumption was unaffected after articles featured scientific labels for the same disease. The reverse pattern held for the disease-related actions of a government bureaucracy. A lab study showed that the Mad Cow label induces people to make choices based solely on emotional reactions, whereas scientific labels induce people to consider their own probability judgments. Although the Mad Cow label produces less rational behavior than scientific labels, it is two to four times more common in the environment.     

How do giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) respond to varying properties of enrichments? A comparison of behavioral profiles among five enrichment items

This study investigated the responses of 14 giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) to 5 enrichment items (3 manipulable objects, 2 feeding devices) that possess different properties affording varying behavioral opportunities. Enrichment items were quantitatively described by using 12 properties. Pandas displayed no preferences among the 5 enrichment treatments, all of which had similar positive effects on behavioral measures of well-being (behavioral diversity, stereotypy). However, each item promoted a distinct behavioral profile, readily mapped onto the enrichment's properties. These results suggest that it may be important to stimulate behavioral diversity but that specific behaviors or enrichment properties are not required. The unique behavioral topography seen with these enrichments also suggests that providing multiple enrichments with varying properties will maximize overall behavioral diversity.