Semantische Faktoren beim Behalten der Verneinung von Sätzen

Zusammenfassung Es wurde der Einfluß der Faktoren semantische Implikation und Belebtheit des Subjekts auf die Speicherung der Verneinungsformen Subjektverneinung (SV), Prädikatsverneinung (PV) und Objektverneinung (OV) untersucht. Die Analyse der Befunde ergab, daß die Verneinungsformen SV, PV und OV unterschiedlich gut gespeichert werden und die beiden Variablen semantische Implikation und Belebtheit des Subjekts die Speicherung dieser Negationsformen differentiell beeinflussen.

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Semantic factors in storing negated sentences

Summary The influence of the factors semantic implication and animateness of the subject of the sentence upon the recall of the different forms of negation: negation of the subject (SV), negation of the predicate (PV) and negation of the object (OV) was investigated. It was found that the forms of negation SV, PV and OV were differently recalled and that the two variables semantic implication and animateness of the subject showed a different effect on the recall of these three forms of negation.

     

Memory of imagined actions: Imagining oneself or another person

Summary In two experiments, three modes of action encoding were compared: overt enactment, self-imagination, and imagination of another person performing the actions. Overt enactment and imagining self-performance of an action are mainly assumed to involve motor-kinesthetic representations, whereas imagining another person is thought to place more demands on the visual representational system. Previous paired-associate learning data on memory of action verbs showed that motor-kinesthetic imagery hinders pair integration, but that pair integration is facilitated by visual imagery. The comparison of free and cued recall of actions learned from lists of concrete nouns supports the assumption that the representational properties of overt enactment and self-imagination differ from those involved in the imagining of another person.     

Pair-relational encoding of performed nouns and verbs

Summary Subjects had to learn lists of noun pairs and verb pairs. They were informed in advance about the test types and were tested for free recall (FR) and cued recall (CR). Three classes of encoding instructions were used: standard learning instructions, item-specific enactment instructions (to perform the denoted action of the verb or a typical action for the noun, and to do the same plus finding separate goals for the two elements of each pair), and enactment instructions that were completed by explicit instructions to integrate the word pairs (find a common goal, and find a common goal plus rating your success). There was no effect of encoding instructions on FR of nouns. There was a better FR under all enactment instructions than under standard instructions for verbs. CR decreased after item-specific enactment instructions, in contrast with standard learning instructions, but more for nouns than for verbs. CR increased after the instructions to integrate the pairs, in contrast with item-specific enactment instructions, but more for nouns than for verbs. It was concluded that enactment provides excellent item-specific information that can hardly be enhanced further, and that the item-specific information provided by concrete nouns is fundamentally good and is difficult to enhance by enactment. It is further assumed that enactment not only provides excellent item-specific information, but also hinders pair integration. Therefore, CR decreases after enactment. This decrease can only be overcome when subjects actively try to integrate the word pairs.     

Re-Interpretation in Historiography: John Dewey and the Neo-Humanist Tradition

Did John Dewey’s ‘new philosophy of education’ really try to dissolve the whole block of tradition or is his debt namely to educational core-concepts of neo-humanism deeper than he was prepared to acknowledge? After some general remarks on the process of reception as productive re-adaptation and its implication for historiography I will deal with Dewey’s own contexts that shape the interpretative grid through which he receives the tradition. Two case studies attempt to illustrate both continuity and discontinuity with a specific part of this tradition, namely two critical perspectives within German neo-humanism: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Johann Friedrich Herbart.     

Involvement and outcomes in short-term interpersonal cognitive problem solving groups

This study examined the extent to which patterns of involvement in interpersonal cognitive problem solving (ICPS) groups were predictive of improvements in ICPS skills. Thirty-one 7–8-year-old children were assigned to experimental or control groups. Participants in the experimental group participated in six sessions of ICPS group work. All participants were tested for the ICPS skills of alternative solutions thinking (AST) and consequential thinking (CT) immediately before and after the group work period. As predicted, the experimental group showed significantly greater improvements in AST and CT skills than the control group. Means-end thinking was significantly correlated with improvements in AST and CT, level of involvement and positive behaviour within the groups were predictive of improvements in AST but not CT. Findings indicated the importance of group dynamics for ICPS outcomes and are discussed in relation to their theoretical and practical implications.     

I might ease your pain,but only if you’re sad: The impact of the empathized emotion in the empathy-helping association

Ample research demonstrated that empathizing with someone in need promotes helping that person. Two studies examined whether this effect of empathy on helping behavior holds across different emotional reactions expressed by a target in need. Results of Study 1 indicate that perspective taking with a sad needy target increased empathic concern which, in turn, fostered helping the individual. This relation was not found for participants taking the perspective of angry or disgusted needy targets. Study 2 provides further support for the underlying mechanism of the results of Study 1. Perspective taking with a sad needy target increased empathizers’ empathic concern because perception of target neediness was increased. Again, this pattern was not found for perspective taking with an angry needy target. The findings correspond to theorizing on the role of emotions in person perception. Hence, the current research provides insights regarding the boundary conditions of the empathy-helping association.     

Children of Prenatally Depressed Mothers: Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms are Accompanied by Reductions in Specific Social-Emotional Competencies

Studies have shown that child development is negatively affected by prenatal depression. A dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the pregnant woman, passed to the fetus, is one discussed key mechanism. Studies, investigating primary-school age children, have found effects on antisocial behavior. Effects on internalizing symptoms were not found, but the analysis did not distinguish between anxiety and depression symptoms. Additionally, until now, no objective test data operationalizing social-emotional competencies have been included. The present study examined: 1.Whether the effects on child externalizing symptoms could be replicated; 2. If there are specific effects on child internalizing symptoms, separated for anxiety and depression; and 3. Are child clinical symptoms reflected in reductions in social-emotional competencies. A sample of 61 prenatally depressed and 143 prenatally not-depressed women and their 6–9 year old children were compared, controlling for key confounders in both the perinatal period and in middle childhood. Children of prenatally depressed mothers had more antisocial behavior and depression symptoms reported by their mothers. The prediction of antisocial behavior scores tended to be more significant for boys than for girls. Child anxiety symptoms were primarily explained by current maternal depressive symptoms. Children of prenatally depressed mothers also showed a reduction in social-emotional competencies, specifically regarding the ability to interpret complex social situations. This study showed that, even in a non-clinical sample, there are distinct effects of prenatal depression on child externalizing and internalizing symptoms which are accompanied by reductions in specific social-emotional competencies. These results emphasize that treatment for depressed pregnant women and/or early support for affected families is worthwhile. Additional work is required to identify the underlying biological mechanisms.     

Short- and long-term consequences in decision-making under risk: immediate feedback about long-term prospects benefits people tending to impulsive processing

Many decisions in everyday life involve weighing up immediate and expected future outcomes that may be conflictive. Yet, it is still unclear which cognitive functions may affect decision-making in such situations. We examined 150 healthy subjects using a new decision-making task that measures people’s ability at handling short- and long-term consequences under objective risk. Two task versions were developed to investigate the effects of feedback about long-term consequences on decision-making. One version includes feedback about changes in long-term prospects while the other does not. Both groups revealed that advantageous decision-making correlated with reasoning and working-memory abilities, however, no correlations with executive functions were found. The effect of feedback on decision-making performance was moderated by impulsivity and need for cognition. Our findings contribute to recent dual-system approaches for risky decision-making by showing that individuals with predispositions towards impulsive rather than reflective information processing could profit from feedback about long-term prospects.     

Reconsidering the “relative” in relative ingroup prototypicality

Relative ingroup prototypicality (RIP) is an important concept in the ingroup projection model (IPM) of social discrimination and tolerance. This paper reviews measures of RIP currently in use and critically examines how the notion of RIP is captured by statistical tests treating RIP as a single variable. It is concluded that composite measures of RIP imply multiple statistical hypotheses that have previously been confounded. The value of an alternative multiple regression approach is illustrated in a study testing the hypothesis of a negative relationship between RIP and outgroup attitudes. Results based on the conventional univariate analyses would have confirmed or disconfirmed the hypothesis depending on the scoring method. In contrast, the multiple regression approach described in this paper resolves this ambiguity by suggesting that only outgroup prototypicality may be necessary to predict outgroup attitudes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.