Memory structure in the processing of advertising messages: how is unusual information represented?

Two models of memory structure--schema-copy-plus-tag (Graesser & Nakamura, 1982; Schmidt & Sherman, 1984) and associative-network/depth-of-processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Hastie & Kumar, 1979)--were tested in a 2 x 2 between-subjects design. Type of argument (typical vs. atypical) and measurement interval (immediate vs. 2-day delay in recognition and recall) were manipulated in a print-advertising context. Results indicated that atypical arguments (unusual information) prompt deeper processing of the entire message (implying an associative-network memory structure) rather than some part of the message (as would be hypothesized by the schema-copy-plus-tag formulation) and that this effect prevails under both immediate- and delayed-measurement conditions.     

Psychological tests and borderline patients

Psychological tests of 32 borderline or nonborderline (psychotic) patients were compared with the structural diagnoses arrived at on the basis of two kinds of clinical-research interviews: The DIB (following Gunderson's criteria) and the structural interview (following Kernberg's criteria). Test results were reported in terms of the diagnosis based on the full test battery, as well as in terms of the structural diagnosis implied by the presence or absence of thinking disturbances on the (structured) WAIS as compared with the (unstructured) Rorschach test. Statistically significant agreement was shown among these four approaches.     

Taking a long look at action and time perception

Everyone has probably experienced chronostasis, an illusion of time that can cause a clock's second hand to appear to stand still during an eye movement. Though the illusion was initially thought to reflect a mechanism for preserving perceptual continuity during eye movements, an alternative hypothesis has been advanced that overestimation of time might be a general effect of any action. Contrary to both of these hypotheses, the experiments reported here suggest that distortions of time perception related to an eye movement are not distinct from temporal distortions for other kinds of responses. Moreover, voluntary action is neither necessary nor sufficient for overestimation effects. These results lead to a new interpretation of chronostasis based on the role of attention and memory in time estimation.     

The time course of attentional and oculomotor capture reveals a common cause

Eye movements are often misdirected toward a distractor when it appears abruptly, an effect known as oculomotor capture. Fundamental differences between eye movements and attention have led to questions about the relationship of oculomotor capture to the more general effect of sudden onsets on performance, known as attentional capture. This study explores that issue by examining the time course of eye movements and manual localization responses to targets in the presence of sudden-onset distractors. The results demonstrate that for both response types, the proportion of trials on which responses are erroneously directed to sudden onsets reflects the quality of information about the visual display at a given point in time. Oculomotor capture appears to be a specific instance of a more general attentional capture effect. Differences and similarities between the two types of capture can be explained by the critical idea that the quality of information about a visual display changes over time and that different response systems tend to access this information at different moments in time.     

Anxiety sensitivity, conscious awareness and selective attentional biases in children

The current study investigated whether physical anxiety sensitivity (AS) is associated with selective attentional biases to affective stimuli in children. The dot-probe paradigm was used to examine the deployment of attention towards words pertaining to anxiety symptomatology, socially threatening words, and positive words, in samples of 8-10-year-old children. Word pairs were presented under both masked and unmasked conditions. Irrespective of masking, children high in physical AS displayed an attentional vigilance for emotional words relative to neutral words, whereas those low in physical AS displayed a relative avoidance of such material. The results of this study are interesting as they not only suggest the presence of automatic AS-related biases in childhood, but that this is a general emotionality bias rather than one related to specific anxiety-related stimuli.     

The Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS): construction,validity, and reliability

Psychometric properties of mathematics anxiety measures have not adequately been studied. Using a large sample size (N = 1,239), the authors developed an abbreviated math anxiety measure, examined its psychometric properties, and assessed the generalizability of the model across samples. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a nine-item measure and strong internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and good convergent/divergent validity was demonstrated with an independent sample. When administered to a replication sample, indexes suggested an excellent model fit. TheAbbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) may represent a more parsimonious and valid approach to assess mathematics anxiety.     

Anxiety sensitivity: the role of conscious awareness and selective attentional bias to physical threat

Selective attentional biases were examined amongst individuals varying in levels of physical anxiety sensitivity. The dot-probe paradigm was used to examine attention towards anxiety symptomatology, social threat and positive words. Stimuli were presented above (unmasked) and below (masked) the level of conscious awareness. High physical anxiety sensitivity was associated with attentional vigilance for anxiety symptomatology words in both unmasked and masked conditions. For positive words, however, those high in anxiety sensitivity were found to avoid such stimuli when they were masked, whereas they exhibited a relative vigilance when unmasked. If the differences between awareness conditions are reliable, then the impact of the automatic vigilance for threat might be modified by conscious attempts to direct attention towards other types of stimuli.     

The relationship of character structure to persuasive communication in advertising

The persuasive effect of character structure--defined as a person's organized set of drives, dispositions, and satisfactions with which they approach the world--was assessed in the context of printed advertising. Subjects were exposed to one of two levels of argument strength (strong versus weak) and one of two levels of message spokesperson (celebrity versus noncelebrity) in a printed-advertising task. Subjects classified as Other-directed, individuals who possess a strong need to get along with others, exhibited greater attitudinal responsiveness to the test advertisement as measured on a composite attitude scale than did those classified as Inner-directed, needing to get ahead, or succeed. Other-directed subjects' attitude scores were more responsive to the message source than were the comparable scores of Inner-directed subjects. Results regarding argument strength were not significant but suggest that Other-directed attitudes are influenced by a combination of textual arguments and social cues.