字频在直接和间接记忆测验中的比较研究

本研究通过3×2×2混合设计实验,比较了字频在即刻和第5天两种施测时间下的两类记忆测验中的不同作用。本研究支持了词汇通达搜索模型对宇频作用机制的分析及传输适当认知程序观点对实验性分离现象的解释,并发现外显记忆与内隐记忆都会发生遗忘,但原因可能并不相同,而且字频影响两类记忆的遗忘进程。     

New evidence for the zoom lens model using the RSVP technique

A main prediction from the zoom lens model for visual attention is that performance is an inverse function of the size of the attended area. The “attention shift paradigm” developed by Sperling and Reeves (1980) was adapted here to study predictions from the zoom lens model. In two experiments two lists of items were simultaneously presented using the rapid serial visual presentation technique. Subjects were to report the first item he/she was able to identify in the series that did not include the target (the letter T) after he/she saw the target. In one condition, subjects knew in which list the target would appear; in another condition, they did not have this knowledge, having to attend to both positions in order to detect the target. The zoom lens model predicts an interaction between this variable and the distance separating the two positions where the lists are presented. In both experiments, this interaction was observed. The results are also discussed as a solution to the apparently contradictory results with regard to the analog movement model.     

Understanding Within-Job Title Variance in Job-Analytic Ratings

This study examined the correlates of within-job title variance in job-analytic ratings. Q-factor analyses of SMEs' ratings for two jobs (i.e., Sales Representative [n = 26] and Felony Assistant Public Defender [n = 141]) yielded two and four factors, respectively. These factors represented shared views of the importance of the job tasks. Factor membership was related to sales performance for sales representatives. Previous professional experience and district of employment were related to factor membership for Felony Assistant Public Defenders. The implications of these studies of within-title variance in job-analytic ratings for human resource programs are discussed.     

The syllable’s role in speech production: Are syllables chunks, schemas, or both?

Two experiments, one using the masked priming technique combined with very brief prime exposures and the other using a new technique, the induction technique, were run in order to investigate the role of syllabic structure in speech production. Experiment 1 (masked priming) showed no effect when primes shared only the abstract syllabic structure without the phonological content, whereas the same picture stimuli produced a syllabic priming effect in Ferrand, Segui, and Grainger (1996, Experiment 4) when primes corresponded to full syllables. In contrast, the results of Experiment 2 (induction) showed that picture naming latencies were significantly faster when subjects had first read aloud a set of words with the same syllabic structure than when these words did not share the syllabic structure with the picture target. This result was also observed when the set was composed of nonwords. These results demonstrate that the abstract syllabic structure (independently of its phonological content) plays an important role in speech production depending on the task used.     

The Anxiety Response: Concordance Among Components

Under social-evaluative stress, self-reported distress (cognitive and somatic symptoms), behavioral anxiety (motor, facial, verbal, and social), physiological arousal (heart rate and skin resistance), and task performance (cognitive and motor) were recorded. Concordance was selective and consistent across response systems. There were significant relationships among measures of cognitive aspects, and among those concerned with somatic aspects, but not between these two areas. Furthermore, concordance was much higher in high-than in low-trait/test-anxiety participants, who even exhibited reversed concordance. These differences are explained in terms of stronger physiological signals in high trait/test anxiety. Alternative interpretations involving perceiving and/or reporting internal threat-related information in low trait/test anxiety are discussed.     

A high-level language program to obtain the bootstrap corrected ADF test statistic

A high-level language program to obtain the bootstrap-corrected asymptotic distribution-free (ADF) test statistic proposed by Yung and Bentler (1994) is reviewed. The program uses the Gauss-Newton algorithm, first to obtain the ADF test statistic from the raw data, and second, to achieve the corrected test statistic from 500 independent bootstrap samples. A generator of nonnormal random samples was also implemented, according to the algorithms of Fleishman (1978) and Vale and Maurelli (1983), which permits the realization of Monte Carlo simulations. Furthermore, the open nature of the program facilitates the inclusion of new procedures as well as the possibility of increased control of the procedures, variables, and equations.     

A multistimulus,portable, and programmable conditioning panel for pigeons

A portable two-response-key conditioning panel for pigeons is described. It can be attached to the subjects’ home cages and allows around-the-clock experimentation. Visual stimuli are presented with light-diode display matrices. Food rewards are dispensed directly onto the stimulus/response keys with separate solenoid dispensers. Several platforms can be simultaneously controlled by a single personal computer with programs written in a simple language adapted for on-line operation. Two experiments exploring the effects of prolonged conditioning sessions upon responding and learning demonstrated the effectiveness of the system. The apparatus is an efficient and inexpensive alternative to a conventional conditioning chamber.     

Influences of task concreteness upon transitive responding in humans

The derivation of the conclusion Anna is bigger than Mary from the premises Anna is bigger than Paul and Mary is smaller than Paul is considered an instance of transitive deduction. For a non-verbal presentation, the premise statements were here transformed into a multiple operant discrimination task. Adult subjects were trained with overlapping pairs of a six-member stimulus series (A+B–, A+C–, C+D–, D+E–, E+F–; +: choice rewarded, choice penalized). A computer game-type presentation that hid the actual problem structure from the subjects was employed. The effects of varying the presentation style of the task on the objective performance and the structure awareness of subjects were investigated. A first experiment used random polygons as stimuli and the relations between them were only signalled by the above reinforcement allocations. In a second experiment the stimuli were cartoon figures additionally involved in a dominance hierarchy that was suggested graphically. A third experiment used named items that were related through visible size differences in addition to the reinforcement allocations but was otherwise like an experiment using an abstract format reported by Werner et al. (1992). In all experiments a similar proportion of subjects responded transitively when subsequently tested with the pairs BD, BE and CE by preferentially choosing stimulus B or C. Each subject subsequently filled in a questionnaire, completed a stimulus ordering exercise, and was interviewed to find out whether they were explicitly aware of the stimulus hierarchy underlying each of the tasks. Although the proportion of subjects revealing an explicit transitive responding increased together with the concreteness of the stimuli and their relations across the experiments, the objective performance in terms of choice accuracy did not vary. The accuracy performance on tests could be accurately simulated with a modification of a simple conditioning model. It is concluded that an implicit mode of processing may underlie many instances of transitive responding in humans even when explicit task understanding is reported.     

The Processing of Grammatical Gender and Number in Spanish

The aim of the present study is to explore the representation and processing of inflectional morphology in Spanish. Experiment 1 compared the access time for words from the same base morpheme contrasted by the surface frequency of the masculine and feminine form, i.e., masculine-dominant items and feminine-dominant items. The results showed a surface frequency effect in both types of items. Experiment 2 compared the access time for masculine words having the same surface frequency but differing in their summed frequency (masculine plus feminine forms), the results showing no significant effect of this parameter. Finally, experiment 3 compared the access time for words from the same stem and contrasting by the surface frequencies for the singular and plural forms, i.e., singular-dominant and plural-dominant words. A clear frequency effect was observed for the singular-dominant words but not for plural-dominant ones. These results suggest that gender information is stored in the corresponding lexical entry and accessed from the full word form whereas the information about number is accessed from the stem corresponding to the singular form.