Concepts: a potboiler

An informal, but revisionist, discussion of the role that the concept of a concept plays in recent theories of the cognitive mind. It is argued that the practically universal assumption that concepts are (at least partially) individuated by their roles in inferences is probably mistaken. A revival of conceptual atomism appears to be the indicated alternative.     

Adolescent attitudes toward body image and anorexic behavior

This study explored the relationship between anorexic behavior and selected dimensions of body image. Anorexic behavior was assessed by two scales, the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT 26) (Garner, Olmstead, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982) and the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) (Garner, Olmstead, & Polivy, 1983). Predictor variables, selected dimensions of body image, physical attractiveness, self-esteem, and physical effectiveness, were measured by scales adapted by Lerner and Karabenick (1974) and Lerner, Orlos, and Knapp (1976). Multiple regression techniques were used to determine how much of the tendency toward anorexic behavior can be predicted by selected dimensions of body image. The major focus of the analysis was to explore the contributions of each of the dimensions of body image to predicting tendencies toward anorexic behavior in adolescents. The research sample consisted of 169 high school students, aged 15 to 18, who were enrolled in health, physical education, or psychology classes in the spring of 1983. Results indicated that the dimension of self-esteem was the major factor in the prediction of anorexic behaviors as measured by the Eating Disorders Inventory.     

The sausage machine: A new two-stage parsing model

It is proposed that the human sentence parsing device assigns phrase structure to word strings in two steps. The first stage parser assigns lexical and phrasal nodes to substrings of roughly six words. The second stage parser then adds higher nodes to link these phrasal packages together into a complete phrase marker.This model of the parser is compared with ATN models, and with the two-stage models of Kimball (1973) and Fodor, Bever and Garrett (1974). Our assumption that the units which are shunted from the first stage to the second stage are defined by their length, rather than by their syntactic type, explains the effects of constituent length on perceptual complexity in center embedded sentences and in sentences of the kind that fall under Kimball's principle of Right Association. The particular division of labor between the two parsing units allows us to explain, without appeal to any ad hoc parsing strategies, why the parser makes certain ‘shortsighted’ errors even though, in general, it is able to make intelligent use of all the information that is available to it.     

Effects of Trait Self‐Control on Response Conflict About Healthy and Unhealthy Food

Self‐control leads to positive life outcomes, but it is poorly understood. While previous research has focused on self‐control failure, self‐control success remains unexplored. The current studies aim to shed more light on the mechanisms of self‐control by focusing on the resolution of response conflict as a key component in self‐control success. Trait self‐control was measured, and participants reported on the magnitude of response conflict they experienced about healthy and unhealthy foods in Study 1 (N = 146; M_age = 33.03; 59 females, 83 males, 4 unknown). The response conflict process was assessed in Study 2 (N = 118; M_age = 21.45; 68 females, 41 males, 9 unknown). Outcomes showed that self‐reported evaluative response conflict about food items was smaller for people high in trait self‐control. Study 2 revealed that higher trait self‐control predicted faster resolution of self‐control conflict, and an earlier peak of the response conflict. Taken together, these results provide insight into what makes people with high trait self‐control successful, namely, how they handle response conflict. Implications for self‐control theories and future directions are discussed.     

Pleasure,Arousal, Dominance: Mehrabian and Russell revisited

This paper presents a discursive review of the dimensions pleasure, arousal and dominance that Mehrabian and Russell developed in 1974 to assess environmental perception, experience, and psychological responses. Since then numerous researchers applied these dimensions to assess the experience of the physical environment and its perceived qualities. Although the dimensions appeared to be useful, there is a long-lasting debate going on among environmental psychologists about the interpretation of pleasure, arousal and dominance and its underlying mechanisms. Due to the lack of clarity researchers use different adjectives to describe environmental experiences, which makes any comparison between research findings difficult. This paper shows that the three dimensions can be linked to the current ABC Model of Attitudes: pleasure, arousal and dominance can be respectively related to affective, cognitive and conative responses, i.e. Affect, Cognition and Behaviour (ABC). In addition, connecting the three dimensions to the triad feeling, thinking and acting, can also help to improve our understanding, interpretation and measurement of pleasure, arousal and dominance. Based on this review, it is proposed to re-introduce the three dimensions and to replace the nowadays often used two dimensional model with pleasure and arousal by a three dimensional model, including dominance as a third dimension, to represent the complete range of human responses.     

Schizotypy and verbal memory in the adolescent general population

The following study examines the relationship between verbal memory deficits and schizotypal traits measured psychometrically from a non- clinical adolescent population. In this transversal analytical study participated 139 subjects. They were secondary school students, with ages ranging from 13 to 16 years old (mean= 14, 35; Sta.Dev.= 0, 548). After administrating the scales O-LIFE (psychometrical schizotypy), CVLT (verbal memory), and Letters and Numbers subtest of WAIS-III (working memory), data was analyzed utilizing Pearson correlations and mean comparison test. Results showed lack of relations between schizotypy measures and working memory. Nonetheless, some of the O-LIFE dimensions correlated with verbal memory. These findings support partly the literature reviewed. Yet, more work focused on schizotypy and cognitive deficits as risk factors are suggested.     

Skeletal structure of printed words: evidence from the stroop task

Do readers encode the sequencing of consonant (C) and vowel (V) phonemes (skeletal structure) in printed words? The authors used the Stroop task to examine readers' sensitivity to skeletal structure. In Experiment 1, CVC nonwords (e.g., pof) facilitated the naming of colors with congruent frames (e.g., red, a CVC word) but not with incongruent ones (e.g., green). In Experiment 2, the color black (a CCVC frame) was named faster with a congruent CCVC frame (e.g., grof) compared to either CCVCC (e.g., groft) or CVC (e.g., gof) incongruent controls. Finally, in Experiment 3, the color pink (a CVCC frame) was named faster with a CVCC frame (e.g., goft) compared to either CCVCC or CVC incongruent controls. In most cases, congruent frames shared no segments with the color name. These findings demonstrate that readers automatically assemble the skeletal structure of printed words.     

Affective images: relieving chronic pain and enhancing quality of life for older persons.

With increasing life expectancy, the incidence of chronic illness and chronic pain also increase. Chronic pain robs older people of their quality of life, and limits functional mobility and ambulation, which leads to muscle atrophy. Older people are often reluctant to request pain relief, attempting to endure pain as a "normal" part of ageing. Innovative non-pharmacological interventions in pain management are appealing. In this study, affective images and pictures were used in 15 elderly patients (12 female and three male) in chronic pain who needed to perform stretching and standing exercises in their physiotherapy sessions. Pain scores were measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and health-related quality of life was measured by the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36). VAS and SF-36 were administered in weeks 1 and in 6. Pain scores were measured during physiotherapy session in the following weeks. There was a significant decreased in VAS from week 1 to week 6 (t = 3.607; df = 14; p < 0.05). Also, a significant decrease in VAS occurred when the patients were watching affective pictures while performing the physiotherapy exercise in weeks 2 and 3, but not in weeks 4 and 5. SF-36 increased in week 6, which indicated an increase in health-related quality of life, though not statistically significant. Affective images and pictures appear to be an effective non-pharmacological intervention in pain management for the older person.