Imageability estimates for 3,000 disyllabic words

We provide imageability estimates for 3,000 disyllabic words (as supplementary materials that may be downloaded with the article from www.springerlink.com ). Imageability is a widely studied lexical variable believed to influence semantic and memory processes (see, e.g., Paivio, 1971). In addition, imageability influences basic word recognition processes (Plaut, McClelland, Seidenberg, & Patterson, 1996). In fact, neuroimaging studies have suggested that reading high- and low-imageable words elicits distinct neural activation patterns for the two types e.g., Bedny & Thompson-Schill (Brain and Language 98:127-139, 2006; Graves, Binder, Desai, Conant, & Seidenberg NeuroImage 53:638-646, 2010). Despite the usefulness of this variable, imageability estimates have not been available for large sets of words. Furthermore, recent megastudies of word processing e.g., Balota et al. (Behavior Research Methods 39:445-459, 2007) have expanded the number of words that interested researchers can select according to other lexical characteristics (e.g., average naming latencies, lexical decision times, etc.). However, the dearth of imageability estimates (as well as those of other lexical characteristics) limits the items that researchers can include in their experiments. Thus, these imageability estimates for disyllabic words expand the number of words available for investigations of word processing, which should be useful for researchers interested in the influences of imageability both as an input and as an outcome variable.     

Recruiting Through Job Advertisements: The Effects of Cognitive Elaboration on Decision Making

We applied a model of persuasion – the elaboration likelihood model – to investigate whether individuals' decisions about responding to job advertisements are affected by how deeply they process recruitment messages (i.e., elaboration likelihood, EL). We manipulated individuals' (N=112) motivation and ability to carefully process job advertisements (ads). As hypothesized, individuals in the lower (vs. higher) EL conditions chose more ads containing cues unrelated to the job (e.g., bolded font), and fewer ads containing higher quality arguments. Participants also reported that they “skimmed” and carefully read job ads in the past, providing evidence for variability in EL among job seekers. We discuss the implications of the findings for recruiters who wish to increase the size of their applicant pool.     

Students Perception of Ability Scale: comparison of scores for gifted, average, and learning disabled students

On the Student's Perception of Ability Scale, comparison of scores for gifted, average, and learning disabled students differentiated the groups, thereby providing some construct validity as well as confirming the ceiling is high enough for use.     

Cue interaction in human contingency judgment

Most studies of human contingency judgment have been based on the assumption that frequency information about one predictor is assessed in isolation of information about other predictors. Recent evidence, however, suggests that the judged predictive strength of one cue is influenced by the predictive strengths of other copresent cues. Two experiments demonstrate that stimuli with the same outcome contingencies may nonetheless have different predictive strengths as the result of cue interaction. The first experiment, in which a within-subject design was used, provides a demonstration of blocking. A stimulus presented in compound with a strong predictor was rated as less predictive than another stimulus that was presented in compound with a nonpredictive cue. In the second experiment, cue interactions in conditioned inhibition were examined. A stimulus gained negative predictive strength as the result of compound presentations with a positive predictor when the outcome was not presented. This negative predictor was compared with an otherwise analogous stimulus that was not presented in compound with a positive predictor. These results support the use of animal-conditioning models as accounts of human contingency learning.     

Evidence for cortical dysfunction in spasmodic dysphonia: regional cerebral blood flow and quantitative electrophysiology

Cortical function was evaluated in 26 subjects with spasmodic dysphonia. Quantitative topographic electrophysiologic mapping (QTE) was employed to provide quantitative analyses of EEG spectra and auditory and visual long-latency evoked potentials. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of the cerebral transit of Xenon-133 was used to evaluate regional cerebral blood flow. Left hemispheric abnormalities in cortical function were found by both techniques in 10 subjects and by at least one technique in 18 subjects. Right hemispheric abnormalities were observed by both techniques in 8 subjects and by at least one technique in 18 subjects. Most patients with cortical dysfunction in one hemisphere had cortical dysfunction in the other, while only 4 subjects had unilateral lesions as found by one of the two techniques. Eight subjects were normal by all measurements. Underlying structural abnormalities were detected by magnetic resonance imaging in 5/24 subjects. However, functional abnormalities (SPECT or QTE) were not observed at sites of structural abnormalities. SPECT and QTE were significantly related in identification of left hemispheric dysfunction (p = .037) with a trend in the right hemisphere (p = .070), and a significant congruence of SPECT and QTE findings occurred in the left anterior cortical quadrant (p = .011). These findings indicate that dysfunction of cortical perfusion and/or cortical electrophysiology is associated with spasmodic dysphonia in the majority of subjects studied.     

Anti-litter procedures in an urban high-density area

In urban high-density areas, litter has become an increasingly obvious and pervasive problem. In the present study, repeated measures of the amount of litter on randomly selected yards in an urban low-income housing project were used to evaluate the effectiveness of a series of anti-litter procedures directed at the children residing in the project. Paying children for volume of trash collected resulted in only a small decrease in the number of litter pieces present. Paying them for cleaning assigned yards markedly decreased the level of litter in all sampled yards. Thus, children can be employed to maintain a clean neighborhood in spite of the rapid accumulation of new litter in urban yards.