Content and temporal structure of autobiographical knowledge: Remembering twenty-five seasons at the Metropolitan Opera

Three experiments were designed to explore the structure and content of a well-defined subset of very long-term autobiographical memory. In Experiment 1, the author free-recalled in a single session details about the dates and casting of 284 opera performances seen at the Metropolitan Opera over a period of 25 seasons. Recall accuracy was measured by comparing the recall with the programs for each performance. Primacy and recency effects were prominent in recall of both temporal and casting details. Also, recall of performances was superior if the performances were included in the sequential structures of seasons in memory. Experiments 2 and 3 were designed to examine the effect of an opera performance's relative importance (or intensity) and opportunities for rehearsal of an opera performance on the author's free recall of the performance. In Experiment 2, importance/rehearsal opportunity was estimated from nine sources, including recordings, telecasts, tapes, and photograph books. In Experiment 3, the set of opera performances was rated and ranked by four opera experts on the dimension of intensity or importance of each performance. In both experiments, importance/rehearsal opportunity was related to superior recall of casting but not to recall of temporal details. Results suggest that detailed temporal structure in autobiographical memory is lost over time, whereas contents may be updated through various forms of rehearsal.     

Linking together different measures of preference: A dynamic model of matching derived from decision field theory

Two frequently used tasks for measuring preferences among gambles are choice and selling price tasks. However, the rank orders observed with these tasks do not agree, and these disagreements are called preference reversals. In this article, we propose an extension of decision field theory that was originally designed to account for choice probability and the distribution of choice response times. In this extension, we show how this same theory can be used to derive predictions for the distribution of values produced by selling price tasks. This model not only accounts for the basic preference reversal results but also can explain the effects of various information processing factors on preference reversals including time, effort, and practice. We conclude by summarizing the advantages of the decision field matching model over two earlier models of choice and selling prices—expression theory and the contingent weighting model.     

Reciprocation of generosity and knowledge of game termination in the decomposed Prisoner's Dilemma Game

Sahlins proposed a model of reciprocity for social interaction citing three forms drawn from observations of kinship systems. The model describes an altruistic form of reciprocity, a balanced or economic form and a negative form in which individuals try to outdo each other. This model was applied to a two-person variation of the Prisoner's Dilemma Game where Ss were presented with a confederate who responded over trials entirely generously, contingently generously or non-generously. Half of the Ss were informed that there would be ten trials while the other half were uninformed. Basically, Ss tended to match the generosity level of the confederate and were less generous when trial number was known. Evidence for Sahlins' model is provided by Ss reports of reasons for their choices in the game. Those in the generous condition gave reasons for reciprocating based on a general feeling of obligation, trust and desire to cooperate. Those in the contingently generous condition gave reasons for reciprocating based on economic exchange and a desire to maintain a balance of resources. Ss in the non-generous condition gave reasons based on a desire to take what profits one could before the other got them. In addition, Ss indicated a significant tendency to exploit the other on the final trial under the informed condition for the contingently generous but not for the generous condition.     

The role of semantic knowledge in retrieval from episodic long-term memories: Implications for a model of retrieval

Two experiments were conducted, using a paired-associate recall reaction time paradigm, to assess the role semantic knowledge plays in retrieval of long-term episodic memories. In Experiment I, word frequency and meaningfulness were manipulated; high-frequency stimuli led to significantly longer reaction times, while meaningfulness had no significant effect. In Experiment II, the role of the distribution of preexperimental associates of the stimulus was further investigated by comparing retrieval time when the stimulus had either a high- or low-strength primary associate; the former resulted in longer reaction times. The implications of these results for a model of retrieval were discussed. Exhaustive search models were found inadequate, but viable parallel and serial self-terminating models were developed. In both of these models, retrieval time is a function of strength of the correct associate, relative to total strength of a restricted set of semantic associates of the stimulus.     

A review of experiments in explicit bargaining

Bargaining was defined as a situation where: (1) there are two or more parties with divergent interests, (2) the parties can communicate, (3) mutual compromise is possible, (4) provisional offers can be made, and (5) the provisional offers do not fix the tangible outcomes until an offer is accepted by all sides. The typical bargaining paradigm is described. Next the limitations of general theories of bargaining are discussed. The results of relevant experiments are then reviewed and evaluated. Particular attention is given to the effects of general bargaining predispositions, the payoff system, the social relationship between the bargainer, his opponent and significant others, situational factors, and bargaining strategy.     

Psychological reactivity to discrepant events: Support for the curvilinear hypothesis

80 male and 60 female infants were observed under 5 a priori judged levels of discrepancy to assess whether sustained attention was linearly or curvilinearly related to degree of discrepancy from an experimental standard. Following habituation, $\text{7}\text{1}\text{2}$-month-old infants were exposed to either the repetition of the standard, a minimal, first- or second-level moderate discrepancy, or a novel stimulus having no relation to the standard. The related stimuli, varying in elongation, were sphere, pear, club, and cylinder-shaped objects; the novel stimulus was a different colored, tooth-like object. 80 infants observed the sphere as the standard and the cylinder as the second-level moderate discrepancy; 60 infants were exposed to the reverse order with the cylinder as the standard. The use of different stimuli at each discrepancy level controlled for specific stimulus effects. Habituation and recovery of responding were observed in an operant paradigm. Lever pressing, fixation, and vocalization increased most to the second-level moderate stimuli and decreased most to the familiar and novel objects; fretting was highest to the redundant stimuli and lowest to the moderate objects. There were no stimulus main effects or interactions. The results support the hypothesis of a curvilinear relation between stimulus discrepancy and sustained attention, excitement, and preference.     

A group approach to guilt in depressive and suicidal patients

Summary A psychiatrist and a pastoral psychologist considered the problem of guilt as a source of alienation in depressed and suicidal patients by using a four-dimensional approach in a group psychotherapy setting. This involved functioning as cotherapists representing theological and psychiatric orientations and utilizing both didactic and insight-oriented approaches to elicit and explore meaningful material related to guilt feelings. With a number of exceptions, the patients did not appear to make a sharp distinction between the cotherapists' roles. The didactic openings on guilt served to provoke ready discussion of personal conflicts involving guilt feelings, especially in the silent patients who were not easily drawn into spontaneous discussion.     

Absolute motion parallax and the specific distance tendency

In the absence of definitive cues’to distance, the perceived distance of an object will be in error in the direction of the object appearing at a distance of about 2 m from O. This tendency to perceive an object at a relatively near distance is termed the specific distance tendency (Gogel. 1969). Also, it has been found that an error in perceiving the distance of an object will result in an apparent movement of the object when the head is moved (Hay & Sawyer. 1969; Wallach, Yablick. & Smith. 1972). From these two results, it was expected that the direction of trie apparent movement of a stationary point of light resulting from head movement would vary predictably as a function of the physical distance of the point of light from O. This expectation was confirmed in an experiment in which both the perceived motion and perceived distance of the point of light were measured. The consequences of the study for the role of motion parallax in the perception of distance and for the reafference principle in the perception of object motion with head motion are discussed     

Adaptation in the constancy of visual direction tested by measuring the constancy of auditory direction

Modification of the constancy of visual direction was produced by partially adapting Ss to the displacements of the visual field caused by magnifying lenses during 1 h of continuous head turning. The adaptation effects were measured by determining the range of perceived target immobility before and after this adaptation period. A method for measuring the range of apparent immobility of an auditory signal during head movements was developed and employed to test whether a modification of the constancy of visual direction transfers to the constancy of auditory direction. No such transfer was found, and it was concluded that a modification of the constancy of visual direction does not consist in an altered evaluation of kinesthetic cues for head turning. The method and the equipment used in the investigation of the constancy of visual direction are described; knowledge of the previous brief publications on this topic is not needed.     

Interference and facilitation effects of primes upon verification processes

Priming effects on sentence verification were investigated. The semantic relation of the prime and the probe, and the interval between prime and probe presentation (SOA), were varied for both ambiguous and unambiguous sentences. Reaction time to decide that a sentence was true or false was longer if the preceding prime was a word that was unrelated to the probe than if the prime was the word “blank.” In contradiction of Posner and Snyder’s (1975) claim that conscious processes develop slowly, this result was found at SOAs as short as 250 msec. Verification performance was facilitated for both sentence types when the prime word was the first of the to-be-presented probe sentence, but the magnitude of the facilitation effects depended upon the truth value of the probe, the associative strength of the subject and predicate of the probe sentence, and upon SOA. These findings indicate that priming affects the processing of relations among concepts in semantic memory, as well as the encoding of the probe.