Recognition memory for pictures as a function of poststimulus interval: an empirical clarification of existing literature

Shaffer and Shiffrin (1972) found no effect of the duration of a blank poststimulus interval on recognition memory for visual scenes. The majority of subsequent studies, however, have found a positive relationship between interval duration and recognition accuracy. The present experiments were conducted to clarify these contradictory outcomes. Experiment 1 determined that Shaffer and Shiffrin's results are replicable with the method that they used in which stimulus durations and poststimulus-interval durations vary randomly within the study list. Experiments 2-3 showed that this random intermixing of durations is the critical factor that results in poststimulus interval having no effect. The results were interpreted in terms of a voluntary rehearsal process that is abandoned when there is uncertainty regarding the time of onset and offset of the stimuli.     

Genetic foundation of social behaviour

This contribution was invited by the Editor, and translated by him from the German. Dr Schlegel is a leading exponent of the large group of German workers in the field of constitutional psychology and medicine. He lectured on these topics at the University of Hamburg before being forced to leave his post in the first half of the 1970s by militant students during the German equivalent of the Chinese “cultural revolution”. His work, which fits well into the new school of socio-biology, is relatively unknown in English-speaking countries and, in view of its originality and importance, should be more widely read. Dr Schlegel, in line with socio-biological thinking generally, has not confined himself to a narrow study of correlations between physique and personality, but has also tried to integrate his findings into a wider social context.     

Working through a group's fantasy of the deceased leader's wish for the group's continuation

This paper reflects the working through of a group's fantasy that the deceased group leader wished the group to continue. As in any defense, the fantasy protected members from the pain of the finality of the leader's death. This article reveals the subjective experience concerning the effect of the leader's death on the group and members' intrapsychic struggle to separate and individuate from the deceased leader, while attending to and striving toward the group's continuation. The group's painful and growing individuation enabled the group to follow its own tasks without the spector of the deceased leader.     

The deterrent effect of capital punishment during the 1950s

This investigation examines the deterrence hypothesis of an inverse relationship between state execution rates and homicides. Although this question has received some attention in recent studies, the findings of these investigations are mixed. Cross-sectional analyses of states have typically shown execution and homicide rates to be positively associated, while at least two national time-series studies report support for the deterrence hypothesis. To test whether these divergent findings are result of the two different methodologies employed (cross-sectional vs. time-series), a methodology that combines the strengths of each is used in the present study. For the period 1950 to 1960, we examine cross-sectionally for states the relationship between changes in execution rates and changes in murder rates. This analysis does not find support for the deterrence argument for the certainty of the death penalty when a number of models of the execution rate--murder rate relationship are considered, and when a variety of imprisonment and socio-demographic factors are considered as control variables.     

Time-interval acquisition on a 6502-based microcomputer

A versatile machine language subroutine and accompanying interface circuitry enable a 6502-based computer to collect time intervals between data events that can be represented by voltage transients. Intervals within the range of 150 microsec to 13.98 min can be collected with a resolution of ±25 microsec. Electrical interface circuitry includes signal conditioning and optical isolation and also allows user-specification of threshold levels on the data line. The machine language software timing routine and sequential interval handler include a 24-bit interval timer, a 16-bit interval counter, user-specified number and length of acquisition periods, and an out-of-memory tester. Although presented for implementation on the Apple II series of microcomputers, the transportability of the routine to other 6502-based machines is addressed.     

The PSYCHLAB programming system: A tool for developing experimental control programs

The PSYCHLAB system is designed to facilitate the task of writing experimental control programs. The system consists of two major components: (1) a collection of procedures and functions to facilitate presenting stimuli, collecting responses, and measuring response times and (2) a high-level language (LAB-TALK) designed to organize and sequence events in experiments. The PSYCHLAB system is formally an interpreter that will interpret programs written in LAB-TALK. The interpreter is customized to perform the detailed functions of each trial in an experiment. The occurrence of these trials is controlled by the LAB-TALK program. Thus, once a particular experimental paradigm has been represented in a customized version of the interpreter, many different experiments in that paradigm can be programmed by variations in the LAB-TALK program.     

The semantic congruity effect: Some tests of the expectancy hypothesis

Subjects comparing items in memory along some dimension are usually quicker to specify the lesser (than the greater) of two low magnitude items and the greater (than the lesser) of two high magnitude ones. One account explains this congruity effect as due to subjects instructed to specify the higher as expecting high magnitude items to follow and the reverse being true for subjects specifying the lesser. Three experiments tested this expectancy hypothesis. In experiment 1, subjects were set to the actual size range of each pair before the pair was shown but the congruity effect still occurred. In experiments 2 and 3, subjects compared critical pairs from a narrow size range plus more from either the same or much broader ranges. Times to compare the critical pairs were the same regardless of the range of the other pairs that subjects were exposed to. These results are strong evidence against the expectancy hypothesis.     

Feature-specific interference in letter identification

It is a well documented finding that letter identification may be impaired by the presence of neighboring characters. There is much less agreement about the exact nature of such lateral interference. Evidence has been obtained for feature-specific interference, and even feature-specific facilitation. Santee and Egeth (1980) suggested that feature-specific interference will mainly be observed in data-limited situations where stimuli are presented for short durations and positional uncertainty is involved. They further suggested that interference would be revealed in accuracy rather than latency measures.In our first experiment, similar exposure conditions were used to those suggested by Santee and Egeth. In a second experiment, however, a longer exposure duration was used, and latency measurements were also collected. In a third experiment, positional uncertainty was removed by foveal presentation, and with this high quality stimulus presentation only latency measurements could be obtained.In all these experiments clear evidence for feature-specific interference was found, both in accuracy and latency data, and these results also held up under the detectability/criterion analysis proposed by Estes (1982). From these findings it can be concluded that feature-specific interference occurs under a wide range of conditions, including those representative of normal reading.     

Aggression levels in college students after exposure or non-exposure to an aggressive life experience

Through a secondary analysis of existing data, the authors researched the question of what types of aggressive behaviors are learned from an individual's social environment. The findings included data on three student groups: 1) students who had never been in military service; 2) students who had been in military service and had been to Viet Nam; and 3) students who had been in military service, but who had not been to Viet Nam. The results indicated that assault is clearly one aggressive behavior that appears to increase with exposure to an aggressive life experience.     

Homemaking as an occupational plan: Evidence from a national longitudinal study

While several guidelines for avoiding sexist language in career materials have been published, little empirical evidence exists to support the assumption that sexist language in career information has deleterious effects on clients. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of sex-biased language in occupational information on subject interest and attitudes regarding gender appropriateness of occupations. Eighth-grade students read occupational briefs on two occupations presented in either neutral, female-biased, or male-biased language. Results showed a nonsignificant language effect and a significant sex difference in interest in the occupations. A significant three-way interaction (language by subject sex by occupation) was found for gender-appropriateness ratings. The findings, together with previous research, suggest that language may have little impact on specific occupational interests, but may affect other career attitudes related to interests.