Decisions,actions, and the appropriateness of confidence in knowledge

This research examines the appropriateness of confidence (i.e., subjective probability judgments) in knowledge associated with decisions and actions of social importance. One hundred and thirty seven participants completed a 50 item questionnaire assessing their knowledge of the two leading candidates in the 1988 presidential election in the U.S.A. Ninety one of the respondents completed the questionnaire one week prior to the election, whereas the other 46 completed the questionnaire on election day shortly after voting. After each item in the questionnaire, all respondents indicated whether or not the item content represented a reason why they voted (or intended to vote) for or against the candidate to whom the item referred. Within-person results indicated that, in comparison to items that were not cited as reasons for voting intentions or voting behavior, items endorsed as reasons were characterized by better accuracy and resolution, but worse overconfidence. Between groups, decision makers were significantly more accurate and better calibrated than those who had not made a decision between the candidates. Implications of inappropriate confidence on decision making effectiveness are discussed.     

A COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF REINFORCER IDENTIFICATION PROCESSES FOR PERSONS WITH PROFOUND MULTIPLE HANDICAPS

We evaluated comprehensively a preference assessment for identifying reinforcers for persons with profound multiple handicaps. Four experiments were conducted involving 18 individuals. Results of Experiment 1 replicated previous findings in that the assessment identified student preferences for respective stimuli, and caregiver opinion of preferences did not coincide with the systematic assessment. Results of Experiment 2 indicated highly preferred stimuli were likely to function as reinforcers in training programs, whereas stimuli not highly preferred did not function as reinforcers. Results of Experiment 3 suggested the 12 stimuli used in the assessment represented a comprehensive stimulus set for identifying preferences, although the utility of the set sometimes could be enhanced by caregiver opinion. Results of Experiment 4 indicated the assessment identified preferences likely to be maintained over time. Overall, results are discussed in terms of identifying limits and alternatives to a behavioral teaching technology when applied to persons with profound multiple handicaps.     

Selves and Moral Units

Derek Parfit claims that, at certain times and places, the metaphysical units he labels selves may be thought of as the morally significant units (i.e., the objects of moral concern) for such things as resource distribution, moral responsibility, commitments, etc. But his concept of the self is problematic in important respects, and it remains unclear just why and how this entity should count as a moral unit in the first place. In developing a view I call Moderate Reductionism, I attempt to resolve these worries, first by offering a clearer, more consistent account of what the concept of self should involve, and second by arguing for why selves should indeed be viewed as moral (and prudential) units. I then defend this view in detail from both conservative and extreme objections.     

Infants’ responses to objects representing levels of word knowledge and categorical information

The effects of differing levels of word knowledge on infants’ sequential touching behaviors were investigated in two studies. In both, parent report was used to assess three levels of word knowledge: known, frontier, and unknown. In the first study, 14-month-old infants sequentially touched objects consistent with parents’ reports of their word knowledge. In the second study, 20-month-old infants sequentially touched objects by both conceptual category and reported level of word knowledge. It appears that even infants, like adults, can make distinctions among objects on the basis of their knowledge about the objects’ labels.     

Rehabilitation of brain damage: brain plasticity and principles of guided recovery.

Rehabilitation of the damaged brain can foster reconnection of damaged neural circuits; Hebbian learning mechanisms play an important part in this. The authors propose a triage of post-lesion states, depending on the loss of connectivity in particular circuits. A small loss of connectivity will tend to lead to autonomous recovery, whereas a major loss of connectivity will lead to permanent loss of function; for such individuals, a compensatory approach to recovery is required. The third group have potentially rescuable lesioned circuits, but guided recovery depends on providing precisely targeted bottom-up and top-down inputs, maintaining adequate levels of arousal, and avoiding activation of competitor circuits that may suppress activity in target circuits. Empirical data are implemented in a neural network model, and clinical recommendations for the practice of rehabilitation following brain damage are made.     

Are there "his" and "hers" types of interdependence? The implications of gender differences in collective versus relational interdependence for affect, behavior, and cognition.

In a recent review, S. E. Cross and L. Madson (1997) forwarded that many gender differences in social experience and behavior may be better understood through consideration of gender differences in independence and interdependence. In the current studies an expansion of the model to include both relational and collective aspects of interdependence was investigated (see R. F. Baumeister & K. L. Sommer, 1997). On the basis of the literature regarding gender differences in affect, behavior, and cognition, it was hypothesized that women would focus more on the relational aspects of interdependence, whereas men would focus more on the collective aspects of interdependence. Five studies in which gender differences in self-construals, emotional experience, selective memory, and behavioral intentions were examined supported the expansion of the model to include both relational and collective aspects of interdependence.     

College adjustment and older students

When mean scores on the College Adjustment Scale for 21 students, ages 31 to 51 years, were compared with means of the standardization sample, values fell well within the acceptable ranges of 42nd to 67th percentiles, suggesting the scale could be given older students.     

Reading speech and hearing print: constraining models of visual word recognition by exploring connections with speech perception.

Current models of reading and speech perception differ widely in their assumptions regarding the interaction of orthographic and phonological information during language perception. The present experiments examined this interaction through a two-alternative, forced-choice paradigm, and explored the nature of the connections between graphemic and phonemic processing subsystems. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated a facilitation-dominant influence (i.e., benefits exceed costs) of graphemic contexts on phoneme discrimination, which is interpreted as a sensitivity effect. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated a symmetrical influence (i.e., benefits equal costs) of phonemic contexts on grapheme discrimination, which can be interpreted as either a bias effect, or an equally facilitative/inhibitory sensitivity effect. General implications for the functional architecture of language processing models are discussed, as well as specific implications for models of visual word recognition and speech perception.     

The myth of upright vision. A psychophysical and functional imaging study of adaptation to inverting spectacles

The adaptation to inverting prisms and mirror spectacles was studied in four subjects over periods of six to ten days. Subjects showed rapid adaptation of visuomotor functions, but did not report return of upright vision. The persistence of the transformed visual image was confirmed by the subjects' perception of shape from shading. No alteration of the retinotopy of early visual cortical areas was seen in the functional magnetic resonance images. These results are discussed in the context of previous claims of upright vision with inverting prisms and mirror spectacles.