Retrieval Inhibition and Memory Distortion: Negative Consequences of an Adaptive Process

ABSTRACT— Despite the fact that misinformation effects have long been studied by both applied researchers and modelers of human memory, there is little consensus as to the value of such endeavors. We argue that this may be due to a failure to identify the underlying mechanism responsible for such memory distortions. We consider novel evidence for a relationship between retrieval-induced forgetting and the reporting of misinformation. We also explore the extent to which retrieval inhibition underpins this relationship and the implications this has for the modeling of memory and finding potential solutions to real-world problems.     

Eliciting salient beliefs in research on the theory of planned behaviour: The effect of question wording

The authors of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and its extension, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) recommend that researchers who use these theories to investigate the determinants of a given behaviour should first conduct an elicitation study to identify the modal salient beliefs in the target population. In spite of the importance accorded to salient beliefs by the TRA/TPB, the elicitation stage has received little research attention. This paper reports a detailed analysis of beliefs about “being more physically active in the next 12 months.” A general population sample of 213 adults completed a questionnaire while attending a research centre for a series of tests. The findings showed that the beliefs that were elicited by questions designed to prompt affective outcomes (like or enjoy, dislike or hate) differed systematically from those that were elicited by the traditional questions designed to prompt instrumental out-comes (advantages and disadvantages). Whether this resulted in different final sets of modal salient beliefs was found to depend on the particular decision rule that was employed. An alternative decision rule is proposed, based on maximizing the degree of overlap between the modal set and the full set of salient beliefs generated by the sample. The index of overlap can be used to gauge the adequacy of using a modal set of a given size to represent the salient beliefs of the whole sample. In the current dataset, the optimal modal set for “advantages and disadvantages” was associated with only 26 percent overlap with the salient beliefs of the whole sample, which was judged to be insufficient. In such cases, a better strategy may be to ask participants to generate and rate their own beliefs.     

Report of the ACA Ethics Committee: 2001–2002

This report summarizes the activities of the American Counseling Association (ACA) Ethics Committee during the period of July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2002. An overview of the mission of the Ethics Committee, Ethics Committee membership, educational activities, review of policies and procedures, and adjudication activities is presented.     

A Game of Inches: Spontaneous Use of Counterfactuals by Broadcasters During Major League Baseball Playoffs1

We tested whether counterfactuals are made spontaneously outside of the laboratory by coding sportscasters’ online verbalizations during 1998 and 1999 Major League Baseball (MLB) playoff broadcasts, and we assessed whether naturally occurring game features relating to closeness (score closeness, series closeness, game end, and playoff end) delineated some conditions under which counterfactuals were more likely. Sportscasters made counterfactuals quite frequently during these MLB playoff games. In addition, sportscasters uttered greater numbers of counterfactuals as games progressed from early to late innings, which was particularly true when scores were close. Counterfactuals were also uttered in greater numbers with closer scores when series were tied than when one team had a lead. Results are discussed in terms of spontaneous counterfactuals, closeness as an antecedent, and the ecological validity of such thoughts.     

Trusting in others’ biases: Fostering guarded trust in collaborative filtering and recommender systems

Collaborative filtering is being used within organizations and in community contexts for knowledge management and decision support as well as the facilitation of interactions among individuals. This article analyzes rhetorical and technical efforts to establish trust in the constructions of individual opinions, reputations, and tastes provided by these systems. These initiatives have some important parallels with early efforts to support quantitative opinion polling and construct the notion of “public opinion.” The article explores specific ways to increase trust in these systems, albeit a “guarded trust” in which individuals actively seek information about system foibles and analyze the reputations of participants. She received her MBA, MA, MS, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She taught computer information systems and public policy at Baruch College of the City University of New York and also taught in the School of Business and the Computer Sciences Department at UW-Madison. In the 1990s, she served as the chair of the Privacy Council of the State of Wisconsin, the nation’s first state-level council dealing with information technology and privacy issues. She has written several books (including Virtual Individuals, Virtual Groups: Human Dimensions of Groupware and Computer Networking, Cambridge University Press and Home as Information Space: Electronic Commerce and the Domestication of Computer Networking, forthcoming). She has worked for public television and developed software along with her academic ventures.     

A Topological Model of Epistemic Intentionality

Beyond their linguistic and rhetorical uses, the mental epistemic verbs to knowand to believe reveal a basic conceptual system for human intentionality and the theory of representational mind. Numerous studies, particularly in the field of child development, have been devoted to the conditions under which knowledge and belief are acquired. Upstream of this empirical approach, this paper proposes a topological model of the conceptual structure underlying the linguistic use of to know and to believe. A cusp model of catastrophe theory is chosen to model the formation of epistemic states. Its main characteristic is considering to believe as an intermediate state which lacks stability and presents the delayed effect of hysteresis. The attribution of mental states to the other (viewpoint of the third person) is obtained by the crossing of first and third person knowledge and belief, which gives rise to new categories (to know if and to falsely believe) and closes the system. Another merging of the beliefs of persons A and B, using the butterfly catastrophe, provides a model of interpersonal belief appreciated by an independent observer along a potential evolving from agreement to disagreement. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Consultant or Comrade: Comments About Analysts' Working Relationships in Schools

The articles in this issue of the Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies pose a dilemma for educators. On the one hand, each article describes an important psychosocial intervention implemented in schools. On the other hand, these interventions, at least as described in the articles, are either imposed on the work of teachers and students or isolated from that work. Either circumstance ultimately limits the impact of the intervention. I claim that analysts and teachers are natural allies despite lack of evidence for alliance in these articles. To extend that alliance beyond conversations about individual children, analysts must understand that teachers' views of learning and development are different from those that influence the organization and management of schools.     

A cortical framework for invariant object categorization and recognition

In this paper we present a new model for invariant object categorization and recognition. It is based on explicit multi-scale features: lines, edges and keypoints are extracted from responses of simple, complex and end-stopped cells in cortical area V1, and keypoints are used to construct saliency maps for Focus-of-Attention. The model is a functional but dichotomous one, because keypoints are employed to model the “where” data stream, with dynamic routing of features from V1 to higher areas to obtain translation, rotation and size invariance, whereas lines and edges are employed in the “what” stream for object categorization and recognition. Furthermore, both the “where” and “what” pathways are dynamic in that information at coarse scales is employed first, after which information at progressively finer scales is added in order to refine the processes, i.e., both the dynamic feature routing and the categorization level. The construction of group and object templates, which are thought to be available in the prefrontal cortex with “what” and “where” components in PF46d and PF46v, is also illustrated. The model was tested in the framework of an integrated and biologically plausible architecture.

CHANGES IN BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART RATE DURING FIXED‐INTERVAL RESPONDING IN SQUIRREL MONKEYS

Episodic and sustained increases in heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure can occur with recurring patterns of schedule‐controlled behavior. Most previous studies were conducted under fixed‐ratio schedules, which maintained a consistent high rate of responding that alternated with periods of no responding during times when the schedule was not in operation. The present study examined changes in heart rate and blood pressure under fixed‐interval schedules which maintained a range of rates that varied from little or no responding at the beginning of the fixed interval to high rates at the end of the interval. The relations of cardiovascular function to rate of responding were examined. Squirrel monkeys prepared with arterial catheters were trained to respond under fixed‐interval schedules of electric‐shock presentation. The duration of the interval was varied across sessions and cardiovascular parameters were examined. Local rates of responding were typically near zero during timeout periods, low at the beginning of each fixed‐interval cycle, and then increased as the fixed interval progressed. At most schedule durations, arterial blood pressure and heart rate levels were lowest at the beginning of the interval cycles, increased as the rate of responding increased, and then decreased during the timeout periods. At all parameters studied, there was a direct relationship between changes in response rate within fixed‐interval cycles and changes in heart rate and blood pressure. The results suggest that a much closer concordance of these cardiovascular parameters and schedule‐controlled responding is obtained by examining ongoing behavior as it occurs within the contingencies by which it is maintained.