The effect of fear‐inducing content on memory for advertisements and on retroactive and proactive interference of programme information

The current study focused on whether fear‐inducing content in television advertisements leads to better memory for the advertisement but also impairs memory for programme information that either precedes the advertisements (retroactive interference) or that follows the advertisements (proactive interference). Fifty‐four participants (48 female) aged 18 to 55 watched a programme that had an advertisement break in the centre. This consisted of 6 advertisements with either fear‐inducing or nonfear‐inducing content. Participants were tested on their recall and recognition of the advertisement information as well as their recall of the first half and second half of the programme. The results indicated that fear‐inducing advertisements were better recalled than those that elicited no fear, and there was also evidence of proactive interference from fear‐inducing advertisements on programme recall. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.     

Across-persons versus within-persons tests of expectancy-value models: A methodological note

It has been asserted that (I) tests of expectancy-value models require within-persons analyses and that (2) within-persons analyses yield better predictions of behavioral tendencies than do across-persons analyses. The first assertion is correct; the second is not. Justification for within-persons tests of expectancy-value models must be made on theoretical rather than empirical grounds.     

A parallel distributed processing approach to automaticity.

We consider how a particular set of information processing principles, developed within the parallel distributed processing (PDP) framework, can address issues concerning automaticity. These principles include graded, activation-based processing that is subject to attentional modulation; incremental, connection-based learning; and interactivity and competition in processing. We show how simulation models, based on these principles, can account for the major phenomena associated with automaticity, as well as many of those that have been troublesome for more traditional theories. In particular, we show how the PDP framework provides an alternative to the usual dichotomy between automatic and controlled processing and can explain the relative nature of automaticity as well as the fact that seemingly automatic processes can be influenced by attention. We also discuss how this framework can provide insight into the role that bidirectional influences play in processing: that is, how attention can influence processing at the same time that processing influences attention. Simulation models of the Stroop color-word task and the Eriksen response-competition task are described that help illustrate the application of the principles to performance in specific behavioral tasks.     

The role of familiar units in perception of words and nonwords

This paper investigates the effects of familiarity with whole-word units and letter-cluster units in perceptual encoding of letter strings. Subjects viewed brief, masked presentations of words and pronounceable pseudowords differing in letter cluster frequency. Identification of both display types was compared to control single letters. Perceptual accuracy was indexed by probe forced-choice responses and full verbal reports of the displays. Evidence that familiarity of whole-word units facilitated encoding was mixed but, on balance, favorable. Evidence that familiarity of letter-cluster units facilitated encoding was completely absent. This negative finding is surprising in view of the fact that we did obtain a large advantage of letters in pseudo-words as well as words over single letters. The discussion section considers an alternative to the view that perceivers use detectors for familiar letter-cluster units in the process of forming representations of pronounceable, orthographically regular letter strings.     

The effects of search criteria and retrieval cue availability on memory for words

The effects of search criteria upon recall performance following a word classification task were investigated. Rival hypotheses were tested, one based on the number of cues available at retrieval and the other on the amount of processing carried out during classification. After being presented with two-component category names, subjects classified words on the basis of either category membership or the number of semantic components the words shared with a target category, and then they received an unexpected recall test. Experiment 1 favored an amount-of-processing explanation, but it was felt that redundancy in the stimulus materials might invalidate this conclusion. Experiment 2 confirmed this suspicion and clearly supported an explanation in terms of retrieval cue availability. The notion of partial semantic processing of words is discussed, and it is argued that the number of congruent encodings formed during classification can be used as an index of elaboration and subsequent memory performance.     

Creation, Co-operation, and Causality: A Reply to Gregersen

Niels H. Gregersen seeks to illuminate the nature of continuing divine action in the world and to show that the classical theistic doctrine of continuous creation is consonant with some recent scientific theories of self-productive ("autopoietic") systems. Central to these theories is the concept of co-operation; central to Gregersen's theological appropriation of these theories is also the notion of structuring causality developed by philosopher Fred Dretske. While supportive of Gregersen's overall aims and emphases, we find significant disanalogies between co-operation as a theological construct and as an evolutionary strategy. We also doubt the utility of Dretske's notion for his project.     

Task-Intrinsic and Social-Extrinsic Sources of Arousal for Motives Assessed in Fantasy and Self-Report

ABSTRACT A review of the literature on individual differences in motive dispositions points toward the importance of distinguishing between motives as assessed in fantasy and self-report. We proposed that these two modes of assessment have identified independent motivational systems that influence behavior in different ways. Two experiments were designed to show that the two kinds of motives are unrelated to one another and are aroused by different factors in a performance situation. It was hypothesized that motives as assessed from fantasy (seen as implicit needs) are primarily aroused by factors intrinsic to the process of performing an activity, whereas motives obtained through self-report inventories (seen as self-attributed needs) are aroused by social factors that are extrinsic to the process of performing an activity (e.g., the way in which a task is presented by an experimenter). In the first experiment, performance on a memory task was shown to depend on the interaction of subjects' self-reported motive for achievement with achievement-arousing instructions, whereas performance on a word-finding puzzle depended on the interaction of subjects' fantasy need for achievement with the puzzle's level of intrinsic challenge. A second experiment generalized these findings to the power domain.     

Measuring cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in children: A parent-rating version of the emotion regulation questionnaire

The frequency of using cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies to regulate emotions has been associated with social-emotional adjustment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the Parent-Rating Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (P-ERQ), a parent-rating version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) in children aged five to six years. Children from Germany (N = 112) and the U.S. (N = 59) participated. Confirmatory factor analyses of P-ERQ data from Germany indicated a two-factor structure that closely reflected the factor structure of the adult ERQ with adequate scale reliabilities. Correlations with a measure of coping strategies supported the convergent validity of the P-ERQ. Cross-country measurement invariance analyses between samples from Germany and the U.S. suggested partial scalar invariance for the cognitive reappraisal subscale and metric invariance for the expressive suppression subscale. Findings provide preliminary evidence that the P-ERQ can be recommended for use in developmental research.