Automatic and effortful processing in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Twenty-five boys with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and 23 age-matched controls were compared on verbal memory tasks differentiating automatic versus effortful information processing. Automatic processing tasks included the recognition of new or old words in a list and the recognition of frequency of occurrence of words in a list. Effortful tasks included free recall of lists of both related and unrelated words. Hyperactive boys did not differ from controls in automatic processing capabilities but demonstrated significantly poorer effortful processing. Intercorrelations of the variables revealed high correlations between scores on effortful measures and also raise questions about the purity of automaticity in some tasks employed. Stepwise discriminant analysis demonstrated that free recall of related words (an effortful task) best discriminated between groups. Effort-related processing in hyperactive and normal children is discussed in relation to variables of motivation, affect, arousal, and other higher-order cognitive processes.     

Gender and self-esteem.

Where does self-esteem (SE) come from? Three experiments explored the idea that men's and women's SE arise, in part, from different sources. It was hypothesized that SE is related to successfully measuring up to culturally mandated, gender-appropriate norms--separation and independence for men and connection and interdependence for women. Results from Study 1 suggested that men's SE can be linked to a individuation process in which one's personal distinguishing achievements are emphasized. Results from Study 2 suggested that women's SE can be linked to a process in which connections and attachments to important others are emphasized. Study 3 demonstrated that failing to perform well on gender-appropriate tasks engendered a defensive, compensatory reaction, but only in subjects with high SE. These findings are discussed with regard to their implications for the structure and dynamics of the self.     

Changing the means of managerial work: effects of automated decision support systems on personnel selection tasks

Journal of Business and Psychology - To enhance the quality and efficiency of information processing and decision-making, automation based on artificial intelligence and machine learning has...     

Changing viewpoints during dynamic events

The connection of various viewpoints of a visual dynamic scene can be realised in different ways. We examined if various presentation modes influence scene recognition and cognitive representation type. In the learning phase, participants saw clips of basketball scenes from (a) a single, unvaried viewpoint, or with a change of viewpoint during the scene, whereby the connection was realised (b) by an abrupt cut, or (c) by a continuous camera move. In the test phase, participants had to recognise video stills presenting basketball scenes from the same or differing viewpoints. As expected, cuts led to lower recognition accuracy than a fixed unvaried viewpoint, whereas this was not the case for moves. However, the kind of connection between two viewpoints had no influence on the viewpoint dependence of the cognitive representation. Additionally, it was found that the amount of viewpoint deviation seemed to influence the overall conservativeness of participants' reactions.     

Region segmentation and contextual cuing

Contextual information provides an important source for behavioral orienting. For instance, in the contextualcuing paradigm, repetitions of the spatial layout of elements in a search display can guide attention to the target location. The present study explored how this contextual-cuing effect is influenced by the grouping of search elements. In Experiment 1, four nontarget items could be arranged collinearly to form an imaginary square. The presence of such a square eliminated the contextual-cuing effect, despite the fact that the square’s location still had a predictive value for the target location. Three follow-up experiments demonstrated that other types of grouping abolished contextual cuing in a similar way and that the mere presence of a task-irrelevant singleton had only a diminishing effect (by half ) on contextual cuing. These findings suggest that a segmented, salient region can interfere with contextual cuing, reducing its predictive impact on search.