On the importance of models in interpreting remember-know experiments: comments on Gardiner et al.'s (2002) meta-analysis

From a meta-analysis of recognition experiments using the remember-know-guess paradigm, Gardiner, Ramponi, and Richardson-Klavehn (2002) reported two findings that they viewed as evidence against the one-dimensional model for that paradigm: (1) Memory strength increased when know responses were added to remember responses, decreasing when guess responses were also included. (2) The accuracy of guess responses was correlated with the location of the old-new criterion in the one-dimensional model for the paradigm, implying that guesses were influenced by decision processes. We question both findings. The first result is contradicted by a signal-detection (SDT) analysis, which shows that both know and guess responses reduced estimated memory strength. The discrepancy results from the properties of A', the measure of accuracy used by Gardiner et al., which we argue is flawed. The second result follows directly from the one-dimensional model, in which accuracy and response criteria are fixed. The authors' reasons for rejecting the one-dimensional model are thus not persuasive, but it can nonetheless be rejected because ROC curves implied by the data are inconsistent with ROCs derived from ratings experiments. A two-dimensional SDT model (Rotello, Macmillan, & Reeder, 2004) accounts for both sets of data. The analysis illustrates the importance of models in interpreting remember--know data.     

An implicit test of the associations between children and sex in pedophiles

Pedophiles are motivated to disguise their thoughts and feelings about their sexual beliefs and attraction toward children. New developments using implicit measures of associations have been successful in accessing socially stigmatic beliefs, even in cases in which the participant is resistant to this disclosure. Using an implicit measure, the authors show that pedophiles have an association between children and sex, whereas nonpedophilic offenders have an association between adults and sex. The task can therefore identify a core cognitive abnormality that may underpin some pedophilic deviant sexual behavior.     

"I could see, and yet, mon, I could na' see": William Macewen, the agnosias, and brain surgery

Two little noticed cases in which William Macewen used symptoms of visual agnosia to plan brain surgery on the angular gyrus are reviewed and evaluated. Following a head injury, Macewen's first patient had an immediate and severe visual object agnosia that lasted for about 2 weeks. After that he gradually became homicidal and depressed and it was for those symptoms that Macewen first saw him, some 11 months after the accident. From his examination, Macewen concluded that the agnosia clearly indicated a lesion in "the posterior portion of the operculum or in the angular gyrus." When he removed parts of the internal table that had penetrated those structures the homicidal impulses disappeared. Macewen's second patient was seen for a chronic middle ear infection and, although neither aphasic nor deaf, was 'word deaf.' Slightly later he became 'psychically blind' as well. Macewen suspected a cerebral abscess pressing on both the angular gyrus and the first temporal convolution. A large subdural abscess was found there and the symptoms disappeared after it was treated. The patients are discussed and Macewen's positive results analysed in the historical context of the dispute over the proposed role of the angular gyrus as the visual centre.     

Effects of Defendant Ethnicity on Juries' Dispositions of Felony Cases1

This research examined jury decisions in 317 noncapital felony cases in El Paso, Texas, and assessed the impact of juror ethnicity on jury trial outcomes. Results revealed that there was no relation between defendant ethnicity and the probability of conviction. Anglo American defendants, however, received sentences that were approximately twice as severe as Hispanic defendants. Sentences imposed by juries were significantly related to defendant ethnicity and type of crime for which they were tried. Sentences were also influenced by defendant ethnicity in interaction with jury ethnic composition. Important differences appeared when there was a critical mass of 6 or more Hispanics on juries. This study, using criminal court data, provides a unique opportunity to examine the utility of social psychological theories for understanding actual trial outcomes.     

Lack of Ability Is Not Always the Problem

Managers request validation studies and stringent standards to stem training attrition. These studies while legally mandated and important are not necessarily the solution. The current study was motivated by such a request. The validity of four composites from an aptitude battery for predicting training success for weapons directors was evaluated. Participants were 353 Air Force personnel who completed training and duty in a previous job. All four composites, Mechanical, Administrative, General, and Electronics were valid. General was most valid. We observed only three academic failures among 32 failed participants. The General composite scores for the successful and non-academic failures were very similar. It was speculated that low motivation and job design features were contributing factors for most eliminees.     

The role of trace strength in recency and frequency judgements by amnesic and control subjects

Amnesic and control subjects were required to judge the recency and frequency of presentation of complex pictures. The pictures were shown either once or three times 10 min or 24 h before testing. In both groups recency judgements were influenced by frequency of presentation, and frequency judgements by recency of presentation. Because the amnesic patients were unable to discriminate between the effects of repeated presentation and recent presentation, it was concluded that their judgements were determined solely by trace strength. Because controls showed some ability to make this discrimination, it was concluded that their judgements were determined jointly by trace strength and specific information about time and frequency of presentation.     

The differential susceptibility of topographic map interpretation to influence from training

Performances on standardized map to landsurface matching tasks were compared following one of three training conditions. Subjects were explicitly instructed to represent the mapped landsurfaces as mental imagery arrays of selected features, and they were presented with sequences of landsurface drawings described as modelling image manipulation processes. Alternatively, subjects were presented with these same sequences, but without explicit instructions that they should be taken as modelling mental processes, or that any particular representational form should be used. Finally, control subjects were presented with neither explicit instructions on processing and representational form nor the sequences of landsurface drawings. Performance differences across the three groups were interpreted in terms of the use of mental imagery being strongly task-determined in such map matching tasks, but the choice of processing strategy being more susceptible to influence from training.     

Visual and somesthetic influences on postural orientation in the median plane

We investigated optic and somesthetic contributions to perceived body orientation in the pitch dimension. In a within-subject factorial design, each of 12 subjects attempted to set his/her body erect or 45° back from erect while restrained in a movable bed surrounded by an adjustable box The box provided a visual environment consisting of either a grid pattern, two luminous lines, or complete darkness. Both the grid pattern and the luminous lines were effective at-biasing settings of body position when the box was pitched; the pitched grid was more effective than the pitched lines. Although the pitch of the box influenced orientation to both goals, the effect was greater for the diagonal goal than for the erect goal. We present a model of postural orientation in the median plane that involves vestibular, somatosensory, and visual inputs.     

Grieving the Earth as Prayer

The COVID-19 pandemic is not so much a new kind of crisis as our most recent reminder of the dysfunction of human relations with the world we inhabit. This article argues that transforming our relations with other creatures begins with an examination of the call to be human: understanding the kind of creature we are and therefore how to live alongside other creatures with natures distinct from our own. It critiques the tendency to overemphasize human distinctiveness (anthropocentrism) or creatureliness (biocentrism, ecocentrism) to the detriment of our interpretations of human nature. Employing Jean-Louis Chrétien’s phenomenology of prayer as wounded speech, it proposes that climate/ecological grief mediates the tension of our distance from and intimacy with other creatures. Speech expressing grief over the world therefore re-embeds humans in our finitude and contingency while nevertheless treating human nature as containing a particular call to participate in Christ’s transforming work.