Where learned armies clash by night

Continental Philosophy Review -     

Personal survival and the closest-continuer theory

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Attributions for dietary failures: problems reported by participants in the Hypertension Prevention Trial

Assigned participants in the Hypertension Prevention Trial to one of four diets for a period of 3 years: (a) weight loss, (b) reduced sodium, (c) weight loss plus reduced sodium, and (d) reduced sodium plus increased potassium. At 6-month intervals, they reported problems they were having adhering to their diets. Problem attributions were coded along the dimensions of internality, stability, and controllability and were categorized as intrapersonal or extrapersonal. Attributions were found to differ by type of diet and sex of participant. Participants assigned to weight-loss groups were significantly more likely than those assigned to non-weight-loss groups to blame themselves for their problems with adherence, making characterological as opposed to external or situational attributions. Men perceived problems to be more controllable than women. Attributions did not predict weight loss, change in urinary sodium, or change in potassium excretion.     

Constraints on access in a problem solving context

The effects of previously acquired information on a later problem solving task were explored. Prior research has shown that the acquisition of potentially relevant information is not effective for cuing solutions in a later problem solving task unless subjects are informed of the connection. The present research extends these results and demonstrates that the problem solving failure is not due to subjects’ rejecting the potentially relevant information following retrieval. Rather, the apparent failure to appropriately use previous information is a result of uninformed subjects’ inability to spontaneously access such information. Furthermore, the observed access failure is not reversible by simply informing the subjects of the task connection prior to a second trial. Finally, the results indicate that problem solving failure on a later informed trial is a problem-specific phenomenon that does not generalize to new problems. The implications for contemporary episodic memory paradigms and the role of access in learning theory are discussed.     

Preventing weight gain in adults: a pound of prevention

This study evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a program for weight gain prevention in normal-weight adults. Two hundred nineteen participants were randomized to either weight gain prevention treatment or no treatment for a period of 12 months. Those in the treatment group received monthly newsletters relating to weight management, participated in a financial incentive system, and were offered an optional four-session education course in the sixth month of the program. Results demonstrated high interest in weight gain prevention among individuals who were not objectively overweight. Participation, as measured by return of postcards sent with each newsletter, was approximately 75%. Results after 1 year showed a net weight loss in the group receiving the program of 1.8 lb compared to those in the control group. Eighty-two percent of program participants maintained or lost weight, compared to 56% of the control group. It is concluded that programs for weight gain prevention are feasible in adults and may be more effective than weight loss treatment programs in addressing the problem of community-wide obesity.     

Units of episodic memory in perceptual recognition

Two studies examined the cognitive units of sentence memory using a perceptual recognition task. Four candidate cognitive units were considered: concepts, propositions, integrated propositions, and nonintegrated propositions. Subjects first received a list of acquisition sentences and then were asked to reproduce sentences presented under a white-noise mask. These masked sentences were replicas of the acquisition sentences, were formed of recombined clauses from the acquisition sentences, or were formed of recombined words from the acquisition sentences. Reproduction accuracy was employed as the dependent measure. Results supported propositions (operationalized by clauses) as cognitive units of episodic memory. No conclusive evidence was obtained for concepts, integrated propositions, or nonintegrated propositions as cognitive units. The utility of perceptual recognition tasks for studying the cognitive units of episodic memory is discussed.     

The effects of episodic and semantic memory on the identification of sentences masked by white noise

Two studies examine how episodic and semantic memory affect subjects’ abilities to repeat sentences masked by white noise. Subjects first hear a list of 70 sentences that are not masked. Subjects in the framework conditions are told prior to hearing the list that all sentences refer to a contextual framework concerning a deserted island. Subjects in the no-framework groups are not given this information. Subjects in the framework-after condition are given this information only after hearing the list of sentences. Subjects then perform a white-noise identification task. The results indicate that framework subjects are able to identify both old and new framework-related information better than other subjects. Subjects in the no-framework and framework-after conditions identify old information better than control subjects who do not participate in an acquisition phase. Emphasis is placed on the interdependence of episodic and semantic memory, including conditions leading to such interdependence.     

Memory access: The effects of fact-oriented versus problem-oriented acquisition

This study examined the effects of similarity between the processing of acquisition and the processing of test materials on performance in a problem solving task. Previous work by Perfetto, Bransford, and Franks (1983) demonstrated that uninformed subjects’ failure to utilize relevant acquisition information in a later problem solving task is the result of a failure to spontaneously access such information. The present study demonstrated that spontaneous access can be enhanced when both acquisition and test materials are processed in a similar manner, that is, in a problem-oriented manner. Furthermore, the present findings indicate that the processing similarity leading to enhanced access is specific to particular acquisition and test items, rather than a general problem solving set induced at acquisition and the subsequent testing situation. Results are interpreted within a transfer-appropriate processing perspective.