Working Memory Involvement in Propositional and Spatial Reasoning

Four experiments assessed the relative involvement of different working memory components in two types of reasoning tasks: propositional and spatial reasoning. Using the secondary-task methodology, visual, central-executive, and phonological loads were realised. Although the involvement of visuospatial resources in propositional reasoning has traditionally been considered to be small, an overall analysis of the present data suggests an alternative account. A theoretical analysis of the pattern of results in terms of Evans' (1984, 1989) twostage theory of reasoning is proposed and tested in Experiments 3 and 4, in which direct evidence for the alternative account was obtained: significant disruption of propositional reasoning by a concurrent spatial load.     

A simplified conjoint recognition paradigm for the measurement of gist and verbatim memory

The distinction between verbatim and gist memory traces has furthered the understanding of numerous phenomena in various fields, such as false memory research, research on reasoning and decision making, and cognitive development. To measure verbatim and gist memory empirically, an experimental paradigm and multinomial measurement model has been proposed but rarely applied. In the present article, a simplified conjoint recognition paradigm and multinomial model is introduced and validated as a measurement tool for the separate assessment of verbatim and gist memory processes. A Bayesian metacognitive framework is applied to validate guessing processes. Extensions of the model toward incorporating the processes of phantom recollection and erroneous recollection rejection are discussed.     

Krankheitsbewältigung bei multipler Sklerose

Zusammenfassung Obwohl ein erheblicher psychosozialer Versorgungsbedarf bei Patienten mit multipler Sklerose (MS) unstrittig ist, stehen die theoretische Aufarbeitung belastender Aspekte des Krankheitsverlaufs wie die Entwicklung standardisierter Interventionsmaßnahmen nach wie vor am Beginn. In vorliegendem Beitrag werden Konzepte und Modelle der Krankheitsbewältigung als geeigneter theoretischer Bezugsrahmen charakterisiert. Im Anschluss an eine knappe Bestandsaufnahme von Versorgungsbedarf und vorhandenen Versorgungsansätzen werden zunächst kurz Modelle der Krankheitsbewältigung (Coping) vorgestellt, die zur Abbildung spezifischer belastender Folgen der MS geeignet erscheinen. Weiterhin werden in einer Befundübersicht neuere Ergebnisse bewältigungsorientierter Forschung dargestellt, die auch erste Berichte zur Evaluation von Bewältigungstrainings einschließen. Ferner werden Ziele und Techniken, die als Bausteine eines umfassenden Trainings zur Bewältigung von Folgen der MS unverzichtbar erscheinen, erörtert. Abschließend werden offene Forschungsfragen, die die Gestaltung von Bewältigungstrainings betreffen, diskutiert.     

Flexible use of source information: Processing components of the inconsistency effect in person memory

The impact of social expectancies on person memory is investigated in two experiments using a source-recognition paradigm. Multinomial model analyses disentangled effects on item-memory, source-memory, and heuristic reconstructive guessing processes. Cognitive load and retention interval were manipulated. In two pilot studies and Experiment 1, participants were presented equal numbers of consistent and inconsistent statements about two stereotyped targets. Source-memory showed an inconsistency effect that is restricted to conditions with load at encoding and longer retention interval. Consistency biases in reconstructive guessing of statement-person associations emerged under load. Item-memory exhibited only a small inconsistency effect in conditions without load and short retention interval. Experiment 2 yielded similar results, although expectancies were induced on-line via the distribution of positive and negative behaviors across non-stereotyped targets. Findings support a model of flexible use of source information, demonstrate the importance of source memory, and of assessing it separately from item recognition and reconstructive guessing.     

Grammatical gender in German: a case for linguistic relativity?

The "principle of linguistic relativity" holds that, by way of grammatical categorization, language affects the conceptual representations of its speakers. Formal gender systems are a case in point, albeit a particularly controversial one: Previous studies obtained broadly diverging data, thus giving rise to conflicting conclusions. To a large extent, this incoherence is related to task differences and methodological problems. Here, a priming design is presented that avoids previous problems, as it prevents participants from employing gender information in a strategic manner. Four experiments with German native speakers show priming effects of the prime's grammatical gender on animate and nonanimate targets, an effect for the prime's biological gender on animate targets, but no effect for the prime's biological gender on nonanimate targets, and thus speak against an effect of language on thought for German gender.     

Accounting for successful control of implicit racial bias: the roles of association activation, response monitoring, and overcoming bias

Individuals who are primarily internally motivated to respond without prejudice show less bias on implicit measures than individuals who are externally motivated or unmotivated to respond without prejudice. However, it is not clear why these individuals exhibit less implicit bias than others. We used the Quad model to examine motivation-based individual differences in three processes that have been proposed to account for this effect: activation of associations, overcoming associations, and response monitoring. Participants completed an implicit measure of stereotyping (Study 1) or racial attitudes (Study 2). Modeling of the data revealed that individuals who were internally (but not externally) motivated to respond without prejudice showed enhanced detection and reduced activation of biased associations, suggesting that these processes may be key to achieving unbiased responding.     

Double dissociations in visual and spatial short-term memory

A visual short-term memory task was more strongly disrupted by visual than spatial interference, and a spatial memory task was simultaneously more strongly disrupted by spatial than visual interference. This double dissociation supports a fractionation of visuospatial short-term memory into separate visual and spatial components. In 6 experiments, this interpretation could be defended against alternative explanations in terms of trade-offs in resource allocation between memory tasks and interference tasks, in terms of an involvement of short-term consolidation and long-term memory, in terms of differential phonological-loop and central-executive involvement, and in terms of similarity-based interference.     

Method-specific variance in the implicit association test

The Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) can be used to assess interindividual differences in the strength of associative links between representational structures such as attitude objects and evaluations. Four experiments are reported that explore the extent of method-specific variance in the IAT. The most important findings are that conventionally scored IAT effects contain reliable interindividual differences that are method specific but independent of the measures' content, and that IAT effects can be obtained in the absence of a preexisting association between the response categories. Several techniques to decrease the impact of method-specific variance are evaluated. The best results were obtained with the D measures recently proposed by A. G. Greenwald, B. A. Nosek, and M. R. Banaji (2003).     

Controlling the “uncontrollable”: Faking effects on the affect misattribution procedure

In two experiments, the impact of faking on the affect misattribution procedure (AMP) was examined. Results revealed that faking influences both the overall means and the convergent validity of AMP effects in terms of correlations with self-report measures. Faking effects were very selective in that they affected fake-prime trials only, for which AMP effects were significant, but reversed in direction, while AMP effects for non-fake trials remained intact. Importantly, neither strategic advice nor prior task experience was a necessary prerequisite for successful faking. The discussion focuses on possible processes underlying successful faking in the AMP.