Perceptual grouping and attention: Not all groupings are equal

We examined grouping under inattention using Driver, Davis, Russell, Turatto, & Freeman’s (2001) method. On each trial, two successive displays were briefly presented, each comprising a central target square surrounded by elements. The task was to judge whether the two targets were the same or different. The organization of the background elements stayed the same or changed, independently of the targets. In different conditions, background elements grouped into columns/rows by color similarity, a shape (a triangle/arrow, a square/cross, or a vertical/horizontal line) by color similarity, and a shape with no other elements in the background. We measured the influence of the background on the target same-different judgments. The results imply that background elements grouped into columns/rows by color similarity and into a shape when no segregation from other elements was involved and the shape was relatively “good.” In contrast, no background grouping was observed when resolving figure-ground relations for segregated units was required, as in grouping into a shape by color similarity. These results suggest that grouping is a multiplicity of processes that vary in their attentional demands. Regardless of attentional demands, the products of grouping are not available to awareness without attention.     

Effect of name agreement on prefrontal activity during overt and covert picture naming

In recent neuroimaging studies, various tasks have been used to examine prefrontal cortex involvement in semantic retrieval and selection. One such task, picture naming, has yielded inconsistent results across studies. One potential explanation for this inconsistency is that the magnitude of prefrontal activity during picture naming depends on the extent to which a given picture evokes a single reliable meaning. To test this hypothesis, fMRI activity in the prefrontal cortex was measured while subjects named pictures with either high or low name agreement. In Experiment 1, subjects named black-andwhite line drawings, either covertly or overtly. Across both modalities, we found more left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) activity when the subjects named low-agreement pictures than when they named high-agreement pictures. No significant difference in head movement was detected between the two modalities. In Experiment 2, we replicated the effect of name agreement on LIFG activity during picture naming, using black-and-white photographs. These results provide further support for the idea that the LIFG mediates selection among competing alternatives and suggest a means for understanding the naming deficits observed in nonfluent aphasia.     

The modulation of inhibition of return by objectinternal structure: Implications for theories of object-based attentional selection

Recently, Vecera, Behrmann, and McGoldrick (2000), using a divided-attention task, reported that targets are detected more accurately when they occur on the same structural part of an object, suggesting that attention can be directed toward object-internal features. We present converging evidence using the object-based inhibition of return (IOR) paradigm as an implicit measure of selection. The results show that IOR is attenuated when cues and targets appear on the same part of an object relative to when they are separated by a part boundary. These findings suggest that object-based mechanisms of selection can operate over shape representations that make explicit information about objectinternal structure.     

Developmental prosopagnosia: a review

This article reviews the published literature on developmental prosopagnosia, a condition in which the ability to recognize other persons by facial information alone has never been acquired. Due to the very low incidence of this syndrome, case reports are sparse. We review the available data and suggest assessment strategies for patients suffering from developmental prosopagnosia. It is suggested that developmental prosopagnosia is not a unitary condition but rather consists of different subforms that can be dissociated on the grounds of functional impairments. On the basis of the available evidence, hypotheses about the aetiology of developmental prosopagnosia as well as about the selectivity of deficits related to face recognition are discussed.     

Lost and Found: Reinvention of the Self Following Migration

Migration can impact on a person's identity and this assault can require reworking or establishing aspects of the self. The study involved a cross sectional design, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to establish the impact of migration on women from the United Kingdom (UK) and Eire (N = 154) now living in Australia. A major aim was to determine whether the impact of multiple loss (loss of home, major attachment figure, family, community, culture, and social networks) can cause a grief reaction and threatened a person's identity, and, if so, what strategies might be used to buffer this impact and assist reinvention of the self. Bowlby's grieving process was used as a theoretical framework. Women who successfully reached the final stage were able to reinvent themselves using social strategies, whereas those less able used solitary strategies. Women, unable to reach the final stage of grieving, suffered psychological distress. The study has implications for future migrants. Migrants who use appropriate strategies to enable settlement and reinvention are also likely to achieve a sense of belonging to the new place.     

Subadditivity in Memory for Personal Events

Abstract—People's subjective probability judgments of external events are often subadditive (i.e., the probability estimates of component parts of a single event sum to greater than one)—a clear violation of the extensional nature of probability theory. We show that people's frequency judgments of personal events can also be subadditive. We found subadditivity even when component events made up a proper subset of a wider composite event. Our findings imply that the somewhat arbitrary choice of the specificity with which questions are asked can produce widely different reports for the same composite events.     

Anticipated versus actual reaction to HIV test results

The accuracy of predictions of how people will react to a medical test result is important because it may influence the decision to be tested. We hypothesized that people would overpredict their own long-term reactions to HIV test results (i.e., that they would feel better in response to seropositive results and worse in response to negative results than they expected to). In the first study phase, anticipations of reactions to positive and negative HIV test results were obtained from 50 subjects. In the second phase, postresult reactions were obtained about 5 weeks after subjects learned the results of their tests. The results suggest that people anticipate more distress given a positive result and anticipate less distress given a negative result than they experience. Cautions about the comparability of the 2 samples and recommendations for further research are discussed.     

Achievement motivation for males and females as a determinant of attributions for success and failure

Male and female college students, divided according to levels of achievement motivation, were asked to do an anagram task at which their success or failure was determined by experimental manipulation of the problems they were given. Their ratings of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck as possible causes for success or failure indicated that those with high achievement motivation of both sexes made relatively higher ratings for ability and lower ratings for task difficulty. Females tended to employ higher ratings for luck, and females with high achievement motivation made maximal use of effort as a causal factor. Theoretical implications and potential applications of these data are discussed.     

The False Consensus Effect and Overconfidence: Flaws in Judgment or Flaws in How We Study Judgment?

Thefalse consensus effectand theoverconfidence in judgmenteffect are often referred to as established “facts” of psychology. At present, the empirical support for these effects is inadequate and logically flawed. We argue that, absent other information, using one's own response to a situation as an observation of size 1 could be an effective use of data and could lead to anincreasein the accuracy of predicting others’ behavior. In an empirical examination of such use, we find a robustpositivecorrelation between the degree to which people believe that a majority of others are like them and their accuracy in predicting those others’ responses, whether this correlation is evaluated within items across people, across items within people, or across items across people. In addition, we show that the finding of overconfidence in judgment follows analytically from the functional relationship used to demonstrate it, a “finding” that is easily reversed by considering the inverse relationship. Specifically, we argue that regression effects account for the evidence cited in support of overconfidence. While not definitive, our empirical findings call into the question the acceptance of these two effects—as commonly defined—as facts.     

The Demand-Control Model: Specific Demands, Specific Control, and Well-Defined Groups

The purpose of this study was to test the Demand-Control Model (DCM), accompanied by three goals. Firstly, we used alternative, more focused, and multifaceted measures of both job demands and job control that are relevant and applicable to today's working contexts. Secondly, this study intended to focus on particular demands in human services work and to incorporate these demands in the DCM. Finally, this occupation-based study investigated relatively large well-defined subgroups compared to a total sample. Workers from five human service sectors (n = 2,485) were included in a cross-sectional survey (i.e., health care, transport, bank/insurance, retail trade, and warehouse). Results showed that job demands and job control are able to show several interaction effects on employee well-being and health, but only in specific occupational groups. In conclusion, the current findings provide renewed empirical support for the view that high-strain jobs (high demand, low control) are conducive to ill health (i.e., emotional exhaustion, psychosomatic health complaints). Further, it appears that active jobs (high demands, high control) give rise to positive outcomes (i.e., job challenge, job satisfaction).