Learning at a distance II. Statistical learning of non-adjacent dependencies in a non-human primate

In earlier work we have shown that adults, infants, and cotton-top tamarin monkeys are capable of computing the probability with which syllables occur in particular orders in rapidly presented streams of human speech, and of using these probabilities to group adjacent syllables into word-like units. We have also investigated adults' learning of regularities among elements that are not adjacent, and have found strong selectivities in their ability to learn various kinds of non-adjacent regularities. In the present paper we investigate the learning of these same non-adjacent regularities in tamarin monkeys, using the same materials and familiarization methods. Three types of languages were constructed. In one, words were formed by statistical regularities between non-adjacent syllables. Words contained predictable relations between syllables 1 and 3; syllable 2 varied. In a second type of language, words were formed by statistical regularities between non-adjacent segments. Words contained predictable relations between consonants; the vowels varied. In a third type of language, also formed by regularities between non-adjacent segments, words contained predictable relations between vowels; the consonants varied. Tamarin monkeys were exposed to these languages in the same fashion as adults (21 min of exposure to a continuous speech stream) and were then tested in a playback paradigm measuring spontaneous looking (no reinforcement). Adult subjects learned the second and third types of language easily, but failed to learn the first. However, tamarin monkeys showed a different pattern, learning the first and third type of languages but not the second. These differences held up over multiple replications, using different sounds instantiating each of the patterns. These results suggest differences among learners in the elementary units perceived in speech (syllables, consonants, and vowels) and/or the distance over which such units can be related, and therefore differences among learners in the types of patterned regularities they can acquire. Such studies with tamarins open interesting questions about the perceptual and computational capacities of human learners that may be essential for language acquisition, and how they may differ from those of non-human primates.     

Category specificity in normal episodic learning: applications to object recognition and category-specific agnosia

Studies of patients with category-specific agnosia (CSA) have given rise to multiple theories of object recognition, most of which assume the existence of a stable, abstract semantic memory system. We applied an episodic view of memory to questions raised by CSA in a series of studies examining normal observers' recall of newly learned attributes of familiar objects. Subjects first learned to associate arbitrarily assigned colors or textures to objects in a training phase, and then attempted to report the newly learned attribute of each object in a recall task. Our subjects' pattern of recall errors was similar both quantitatively and qualitatively to the identification deficits among patients with CSA for biological objects. Furthermore, errors tended to reflect conceptually and structurally based confusions. We suggest that object identification involves recruitment and integration of information across distributed episodic memories and that this process is susceptible to interference from objects that are structurally similar and conceptually related.     

Identification of tone duration, line length, and letter position: an experimental approach to timing and working memory deficits in schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia display numerous cognitive deficits, including problems in working memory, time estimation, and absolute identification of stimuli. Research in these fields has traditionally been conducted independently. We examined these cognitive processes using tasks that are structurally similar and that yield rich error data. Relative to healthy control participants (n = 20), patients with schizophrenia (n = 20) were impaired on a duration identification task and a probed-recall memory task but not on a line-length identification task. These findings do not support the notion of a global impairment in absolute identification in schizophrenia. However, the authors suggest that some aspect of temporal information processing is indeed disturbed in schizophrenia.     

An evaluation of response cost in the treatment of inappropriate vocalizations maintained by automatic reinforcement

In the current study, we examined the utility of a procedure consisting of noncontingent reinforcement with and without response cost in the treatment of inappropriate vocalizations maintained by automatic reinforcement. Results are discussed in terms of examining the variables that contribute to the effectiveness of response cost as treatment for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement.     

Personality assessment without borders: adaptation of the MMPI-2 across cultures

In contemporary psychology, personality assessment knows few national or cultural boundaries. Psychological tests developed in one country are often translated and adapted into cultures that might appear to be greatly different from the country of origin. In this article, I address the factors that are important to international test adaptation and examine problems that can adversely affect cross-cultural test research programs. I address qualities important for verifying the accuracy and adequacy of cross-cultural assessment. I review the extensive adaptation of the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1940) and MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989), the most frequently used personality measure. I highlight several contemporary research trends in international personality assessment.     

Alexithymia and psychopathy: comparison and application of California Q-set Prototypes

Although alexithymia and psychopathy have long been linked, the relationship between the two constructs remains unclear. In this study, we used the California Q-set Alexithymia Prototype (CAQ-AP; Haviland & Reise, 1996) and Psychopathy Prototype (CAQ-PP; Reise & Oliver, 1994) to clarify the relationship between the two constructs and evaluate both in a sample of contemporary and historical political leaders (N = 42). Our data show that both individuals with prototypic alexithymia and psychopathy lack empathy and insight and are not introspective. The prototypic person with alexithymia, however, is anxious, overcontrolled, submissive, boring, ethically consistent, and socially conforming, whereas the prototypic individual with psychopathy is anxiety-free, undercontrolled, dominant, charming, deceitful, and nonconforming. Characteristics of both were relatively common among the 13 controversial and notorious leaders and relatively uncommon among the 29 generally respected leaders in the sample. The CAQ-AP and the CAQ-PP appear to be useful for evaluating alexithymic and psychopathic features in public figures.     

When do the stigmatized make attributions to discrimination occurring to the self and others? The roles of self-presentation and need for control

Two experiments examined how the goals of self-presentation and maintenance of control over one's outcomes influence women's tendencies to make or to avoid making attributions to discrimination. Demonstrating the importance of self-presentational goals, Experiment 1 showed that targets of discrimination were just as likely as similar others to make attributions to discrimination under private reporting conditions, but they were significantly less likely to do so under public reporting conditions. This experiment also provided initial evidence that need for personal control increases discrimination attributions. Experiment 2 demonstrated that targets' minimization of discrimination, observed in public reporting conditions, was eliminated when the need to reassert personal control was induced. Both experiments also demonstrated that failing to view events as discrimination has negative psychological costs.     

Reasoning from inconsistency to consistency

This article presents a theory of how individuals reason from inconsistency to consistency. The theory is based on 3 main principles. First, individuals try to construct a single mental model of a possibility that satisfies a current set of propositions, and if the task is impossible, they infer that the set is inconsistent. Second, when an inconsistency arises from an incontrovertible fact, they retract any singularly dubious proposition or any proposition that is inconsistent with the fact; otherwise, they retract whichever proposition mismatches the fact. A mismatch can arise from a proposition that has only mental models that conflict with the fact or fail to represent it. Third, individuals use their causal knowledge-in the form of models of possibilities-to create explanations of what led to the inconsistency. A computer program implements the theory, and experimental results support each of its principles.     

Quality of life assessment in Turkish patients with schizophrenia and their relatives

Quality of life of first-degree relatives living in the same household with patients having schizophrenia has not been sufficiently explored. 30 patients with schizophrenia (16 women, 14 men), diagnosed using DSM-IV criteria, 31 of their relatives (15 women, 16 men), and 34 control subjects (21 women, 13 men) were included in the study. The mean age of the patients, their relatives, and the control subects were 39.8 +/- 10.9, 58.1 +/- 12.5 and 37.3 +/- 17.0, respectively. The World Health Oranization Quality of Life-Brief Form was administered to all subjects. Quality of life was worse for the patient group than for their relatives and control subjects, but relatives of the patients and control subjects were not significantly different on Quality of life. Quality of life was negatively correlated with the severity of psychopathology and extrapyramidal side effects induced by antipsychotic drugs in the patients.     

Holography does not account for goodness: a critique of van der Helm and Leeuwenberg (1996)

P. A. van der Helm and E. L. J. Leeuwenberg (1996) outlined a holographic account of figural goodness of a perceptual stimulus. The theory is mathematically precise and can be applied to a broad spectrum of empirical data. The authors argue, however, that the account is inadequate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. The theoretical difficulties concern the internal consistency of the account and its reliance on unspecified auxiliary assumptions. The account also makes counterintuitive empirical predictions, which do not fit past data or the results of a series of new experimental studies.