Focus shift and individual differences in the Sternberg memory-search task

One consistent finding in research using the memory search task developed by Sternberg (1966) is that negative set size has no effect on search reaction time, even when the negative set contains fewer items than the positive set. Such inefficient behavior appears to result from an intense positive focus generated by standard memory search task instructions. The present research was designed to explore the conditions under which a subject will switch focus to a smaller negative set. Two experiments were carried out using standard Sternberg instructions. The first experiment examined the effects of making the contents of the negative set explicit. The result was a shift to negative focus when the negative set was much smaller than the positive set. In the second experiment the size of the positive set was increased systematically to induce a shift to negative focus. The second experiment also examined the relationship between focus shift and measures of intelligence (Raven Progressive Matrices) and information storage capacity (digit span). The results are evidence that negative set size can affect reaction time in the memory search task, and that individual differences in ability to shift focus are related to intelligence.     

Multifactorial assessment of bulimia nervosa

We investigated a multifactorial approach to the assessment of bulimia nervosa by means of hierarchical factor analysis. Two hundred forty-five bulimia nervosa patients and 68 patients with either anorexia nervosa or eating disorders not otherwise specified were administered a self-report battery that was organized into 21 dimensions relevant to eating disorder patients. When dimensions from this battery were subjected to hierarchical factor analysis, support for bulimia nervosa as a unique diagnostic category was obtained. However, the emergence of 3 secondary factors and 6 primary factors suggests that bulimia nervosa can also be described more complexly. The emergence of a multifactorial model of bulimia nervosa that incorporates several existing undimensional models suggests the potential for both divergent and complicated clinical presentation in bulimia nervosa patients.     

Newborns' preferential tracking of face-like stimuli and its subsequent decline.

Goren, Sarty, and Wu (1975) claimed that newborn infants will follow a slowly moving schematic face stimulus with their head and eyes further than they will follow scrambled faces or blank stimuli. Despite the far-reaching theoretical importance of this finding, it has remained controversial and been largely ignored. In Experiment 1 we replicate the basic findings of the study. In Experiment 2 we attempt a second replication in a different maternity hospital, and extend the original findings with evidence suggesting that both the particular configuration of features, and some aspects of the features themselves, are important for preferential tracking in the first hour of life. In Experiment 3 we use a different technique to trace the preferential tracking of faces over the first five months of life. The preferential tracking of faces declines during the second month. The possible causes and consequences of this observation are discussed.     

The Stroop congruency effect is more observable under a speed strategy than an accuracy strategy

Naming the ink color of an incongruent color word (e.g., RED printed in green) usually takes longer than naming the ink color of a color bar. However, when the ink matches the word (e.g., RED printed in red), naming tends to be faster. These phenomena are known as the STroop interference effect and the Stroop congruency effect, respectively. Although the interference effect has been robust and reliable across studies, the congruency effect tends to be elusive. It was hypothesized that this variation in outcomes might be related to subjects' response strategy. The experiment conducted to test this hypothesis induced either a speed or an accuracy strategy in two separate groups of subjects. Significant interference effects were found for both groups and the magnitudes did not differ. At the same time, the congruency effect was observed in the speed group but not in the accuracy group. These results suggest that researchers who wish to observe and study the Stroop congruency and interference effects should place special emphasis on speed. Implications of the study for a model of the Stroop effect are also discussed.     

Development and evaluation of CHIPASAT, an attention test for children: II. Test-retest reliability and practice effect for a normal sample.

The CHIPASAT (Children's Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task), developed to assess auditory-verbal attention, was administered to a sample of 70 normal school children on two occasions separated by an interval of approximately 4 weeks. A significant practice effect was found, independent of age and sex, with performance improved by approximately 20% on retest. The test-retest reliability of .90 was significant, indicating task stability. The practice effect was consistent with that reported in the literature for the adult PASAT, and reasons for this effect are discussed. Initial test raw scores on WISC--R Arithmetic and Digit Span subtests yielded low but significant correlations of .38 and .35 with CHIPASAT scores.     

The role of cosmetics in attributions about sexual harassment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cosmetics use on attributions concerning the likelihood of provoking sexual harassment and of being sexually harassed. Subjects were 85 female and 76 male undergraduate volunteers. The study was a 3×2 between-subjects design with three levels of cosmetics use (heavy, moderate, no cosmetics) and two levels of sex of subject (male, female). Each subject viewed one of three colored photographs of a model wearing either heavy, moderate, or no cosmetics, and then indicated how likely the model was to provoke sexual harassment and to be sexually harassed. Data were analyzed using analyses of variance and the Newman-Keuls test. When the model wore heavy cosmetics, she was rated as more likely to provoke sexual harassment than when she wore moderate cosmetics. Similarly, when the model wore moderate cosmetics, she was rated as significantly more likely to provoke sexual harassment than when she was not wearing cosmetics. When the model wore either heavy or moderate cosmetics, she was also rated as more likely to be sexually harassed than when she did not wear cosmetics. In addition, male subjects rated the model as more likely to provoke and to be sexually harassed than did female subjects. Results are discussed in terms of sex role spillover.     

Evidence for the self as an imaginal prototype

This study investigated recognition memory of self-photographs which had been previously rated by subjects for their degree of reference to an imaginal prototype of “real self.” The number of false alarms to NEW photographs was found to increase with degree of self-reference to the imaginal prototype with the exception of photographs rated highest in self-reference. Females were reliably superior to males in self-recognition. Males and females also differed in nonverbal behaviors reflecting differences in their image of real self. Results were interpreted as supporting an hypothesis that the self functions as a cognitive prototype which has both imaginal and verbal characteristics.     

Constant errors donot occur in the matched reproduction of angles

MacRae and Loh (1981) reported that when observers attempt to match angles, whether simultaneously or successively, and regardless of whether the angles have the same orientation or not, acute angles generally are set too large and obtuse angles, too small. Without presenting data, they argued indirectly that starting-position effects in their adjustment procedure could not have accounted for the errors. In four experiments, we have demonstrated that effects similar to MacRae and Loh’s do occur when their starting positions are used and that no such effects occur when psychophysical methods that minimize or eradicate starting position effects are used.