Look into my eyes: gaze direction and person memory

The current research considered the effects of gaze direction on a fundamental aspect of social cogition: person memory. It was anticipated that a person's direction of gaze (i.e., direct or averted) would impact his or her subsequent memorability, such that recognition would be enhanced for targets previously displaying direct gaze. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with faces displaying either direct or averted gaze in a person-classification (i.e., conceptual) task. Then, in a surprise memory test, they were required to report whether a presented face had been seen before. As expected, a recognition advantage was observed for targets displaying direct gaze during the initial classification task. This finding was replicated and extended in a second experiment in which participants initially reported the spatial location (i.e., perceptual task) of each face. We consider the implications of these findings for basic aspects of social-cognitive functioning and person perception.     

Thoughts and oughts

Many now accept the thesis that norms are somehow constitutively involved in people's contentful intentional states. I distinguish three versions of this normative thesis that disagree about the type of norms constitutively involved. Are they objective norms of correctness, subjective norms of rationality, or intersubjective norms of social practices? I show the advantages of the third version, arguing that it improves upon the other two versions, as well as incorporating their principal insights. I then defend it against two serious challenges: (1) If content is constituted by others' normative judgments, how can content be causally efficacious? (2) This account appears to make having contentful thoughts a matter of people having contentful thoughts about your thoughts. That appears to be viciously circular and so can't be naturalistic.     

Creativity to Sexual Values as Factors of Importance,Frequency, and Feeling Ratings

Factor analyses identified one General and 23 Primary factors, grouping independently the dimensions of importance (attitudinal), frequency (of experiences), and pleasantness-unpleasantness (of bodily feelings) for 48 items that broadly reflect human values, activities, and feelings such that they are applicable cross-culturally. This Specific Value Scale was self-rated by 296 college students whose 13 “Values” (incorporating the three dimensions) ranged from Social Activities and Ethical Beliefs to Sexual Activities and Significance (importance feeling), these values being also reflected in factors. The importance of self-understanding and the pleasantness of clothes grooming and of friendship were emphasized. Deemphasized were rebelling, arguments, and negative feelings. No significant differences were found between the sexes.     

Early Adolescent Growth in Depression and Conduct Problem Symptoms as Predictors of Later Substance Use Impairment

Most studies of adolescent substance use and psychological comorbidity have examined the contributions of conduct problems and depressive symptoms measured only at particular points-in-time. Yet, during adolescence, risk factors such as conduct problems and depression exist within a developmental context, and vary over time. Though internalizing and comorbid pathways to substance use have been theorized (Hussong et al. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 25:390-404, 2011), the degree to which developmental increases in depressive symptoms and conduct problems elevate risk for substance use impairment among adolescents, in either an additive or potentially a synergistic fashion, is unclear. Using a school-based sample of 521 adolescents, we tested additive and synergistic influences of changes in depressive symptoms and conduct problems from 6th to 9th grade using parallel process growth curve modeling with latent interactions in the prediction of late adolescent (12th grade) substance use impairment, while examining gender as a moderator. We found that the interaction between growth in depression and conduct disorder symptoms uniquely predicted later substance use problems, in addition to main effects of each, across boys and girls. Results indicated that adolescents whose parents reported increases in both depression and conduct disorder symptoms from 6th to 9th grade reported the most substance use-related impairment in 12th grade. The current study demonstrates that patterns of depression and conduct problems (e.g., growth vs. decreasing) are likely more important than the static levels at any particular point-in-time in relation to substance use risk.     

Context-dependent effects on analogical transfer

The role of context in facilitating analogical transfer was investigated in two experiments. In both experiments, subjects first read two stories that were analogous to Duncker’s (1945) radiation problem. Later, subjects attempted to solve the radiation problem. In Experiment 1, the radiation problem was presented in a different context than that of the stories, and followed them by 6 min. Transfer was observed in subjects who were prompted to use the earlier stories in solving the problem. However, the solution frequency of subjects not given such prompts did not differ from control levels. In Experiment 2, the radiation problem was presented in the same context as the earlier stories to some subjects, and in a different context to others. The timing of the radiation problem also was varied. When a 6-min interval separated the stories from the radiation problem, transfer was a function of context, with weak transfer being observed in the samecontext condition, and no transfer being observed in the different-context condition. At a 45-sec delay, transfer was again observed in the same~ontext condition, and a nonsignificant trend toward transfer was observed in the different-context condition. The results were interpreted as indicating that context facilitates the retrieval of relevant problem-solving schemas, and as suggesting that the possession of relevant schemas is not sufficient to produce analogical transfer.     

Recognition time for letters and nonletters: effects of serial position, array size, and processing order

Three experiments address the question of whether end-effects (the advantage for the first and last letters in multi-letter arrays) are due to sensory or cognitive factors. The basic strategy used was to compare letters with symbol stimuli that do not lend themselves to top-down processing. Serial position functions using central fixation were obtained in the first experiment for letters, digits, and symbols. End-effects were present with both letters and digits, indicating that processes limited to word recognition cannot be responsible for end-effects. Five-symbol arrays, however, yielded U-shaped reaction time functions, with poorest performance at the initial and terminal positions. The effects of array size and retinal placement were investigated with letters and symbols in a second experiment. Multi-letter and symbol arrays differed primarily in that letters showed end-effects that were independent of retinal placement, whereas symbols did not. The conclusion that multi-letter and symbol arrays are not processed in the same way was tested in a third experiment. Using a paradigm that eliminated processing order as a variable, the experiment obtained identical effects of ordinal position within an array for letters, digits, and symbols. It is concluded that sensory factors cannot provide a viable account of letter end-effects and that letter and nonletter comparisons can improve our understanding of the sensory and cognitive factors involved in letter perception.     

Digital computer estimation of eye fixations

A method is presented for estimating eye fixations to the degree of accuracy desired. In the process, the quantity of data is greatly reduced so that analysis can be accomplished at the end of each experimental run. The algorithm is particularly suitable for “slow” computers because the analog-to-digital conversion rate can be low and because the data reduction process decreases the number of calculations required to obtain the analytical results.