Recovering faces from memory: the distracting influence of external facial features

Recognition memory for unfamiliar faces is facilitated when contextual cues (e.g., head pose, background environment, hair and clothing) are consistent between study and test. By contrast, inconsistencies in external features, especially hair, promote errors in unfamiliar face-matching tasks. For the construction of facial composites, as carried out by witnesses and victims of crime, the role of external features (hair, ears, and neck) is less clear, although research does suggest their involvement. Here, over three experiments, we investigate the impact of external features for recovering facial memories using a modern, recognition-based composite system, EvoFIT. Participant-constructors inspected an unfamiliar target face and, one day later, repeatedly selected items from arrays of whole faces, with "breeding," to "evolve" a composite with EvoFIT; further participants (evaluators) named the resulting composites. In Experiment 1, the important internal-features (eyes, brows, nose, and mouth) were constructed more identifiably when the visual presence of external features was decreased by Gaussian blur during construction: higher blur yielded more identifiable internal-features. In Experiment 2, increasing the visible extent of external features (to match the target's) in the presented face-arrays also improved internal-features quality, although less so than when external features were masked throughout construction. Experiment 3 demonstrated that masking external-features promoted substantially more identifiable images than using the previous method of blurring external-features. Overall, the research indicates that external features are a distractive rather than a beneficial cue for face construction; the results also provide a much better method to construct composites, one that should dramatically increase identification of offenders.     

Varieties of Resilience in MIDUS

Population‐based studies of health typically focus on psychosocial contributors to illness and disease. We examine findings from a national longitudinal study of American adults, known as MIDUS (Midlife in the U.S.) to examine the role of psychosocial factors in promoting resilience, defined as the maintenance, recovery, or improvement in health following challenge. Classic studies of resilience are briefly noted, followed by a look at three categories of resilience in MIDUS. The first pertains to having good health and well‐being in the face of low socioeconomic standing. The second pertains to maintaining good health and well‐being despite the challenges that accompany aging. The third pertains to resilience in the face of targeted life challenges such as abuse in childhood, loss of spouse in adulthood, or having cancer. Across each area, we summarize evidence of positive health, and where possible, highlight protective influences that account for such salubrious outcomes. We conclude with opportunities for future research in MIDUS such as examining cultural and genetic influences on resilience as well as utilizing laboratory challenge data to illuminate underlying mechanisms.     

The name letter effect: Attachment to self or primacy of own name writing?

Bulgarian students who first learned to write in the Cyrillic alphabet prefer own name letters in the Cyrillic but also in the Roman alphabet, with which they became acquainted only many years later. These findings which are intra-individually correlated, support Nuttin S interpretation of the Name Letter Effect in terms of attachment to self and contradict a ‘primacy of own name writing’ explanation.     

Frequency and recency effects on response biasing in a pseudo-perceptual task

The pseudo-recognition technique provides an ingenious method of evaluating the influence of response biasing variables. This study tests the effects of recency on low and medium frequency words using the pseudo-recognition procedure. It was found that under short recency conditions the thresholds of medium and low frequency words did not differ, while under longer recency conditions the low frequency words had significantly lower thresholds than medium frequency words.     

Separation anxiety and the inhibition of aggression in preschool children

The anxiety, aggression, and affiliation responses of 10 high- and 10 low-separation-anxious 3-year-old children were observed under a control and a frustrating condition to test the hypothesis that separation anxiety is associated with the inhibition of aggression. High-separation-anxious Ss manifested significantly less (p < .01) increased aggression to frustration than did low-separation-anxious Ss; there were no group differences in state anxiety arousal or affiliation responses. The results were discussed in terms of the concept of anxiety as a drive having both cue and response-enhancing functions.This study was funded by a college research grant from the New York State College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. Special thanks are due to James Cox, Lisa Fremont, and Sharon McNulty for their help in carrying out this study and to the staffs and children of the Ithaca preschool programs who made this research possible.     

Individual differences in preschool object play: The influences of anxiety proneness and peer affiliation

Individual differences in anxiety and peer affiliation were investigated as factors influencing variability of object play among preschoolers. Eighteen three-year-olds were divided into high- and low-anxious groups on the bases of separation anxiety and general anxiety scales. Their mature and immature object play, their peer affiliation, and their peer-watching behaviors were observed in preschools. Low-anxious children played more, showed more mature play, and watched peers less when they were alone; high-anxious children showed no play increases but watched peers more when alone. Separation anxiety scores predicted preschool differences more sensitively than general anxiety scores. It was theorized that separation anxiety related mechanisms hinder children's ability to fully profit from preschool experiences.     

Using elaborative interrogation to facilitate acquisition of factual information in cooperative learning settings: One good strategy deserves another

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether providing 6th-grade students with cooperative elaborative interrogation instruction would facilitate learning relative to providing them with cooperative learning, elaborative interrogation or reading-for-under-standing instructions. All students were presented with 36 factual statements about six animals. Cooperative elaborative interrogation students were instructed to work collaboratively and use their prior knowledge to state why each fact is true. Cooperative learning students were told to work collaboratively to learn target materials, while elaborative interrogation students were instructed to generate answers to the why questions on their own. Reading-control students were also on their own and instructed to read the animal facts for understanding. For immediate free recall and immediate associative matching tests, students in the experimental conditions outperformed those in the control condition. Cooperative elaborative interrogation and elaborative interrogation students maintained this advantage on a 30-day follow-up associative matching test, with elaborative interrogation students maintaining a significant advantage relative to reading controls on a 60-day associative matching follow-up. (There was also a strong trend favouring the cooperative elaborative interrogation condition on this 60-day measure.) The quality of the ‘why’ answer affected learning: Generating and listening to scientifically correct answers that used relevant prior knowledge to clarify target information was associated with better memory for facts than were other types of study responses. Students in this study learned the most when they were explicitly directed to activate relevant prior knowledge that supports and clarifies new information–processing that occurs following either small-group or individual elaborative interrogation instruction.     

Helping students acquire belief-inconsistent and belief-consistent science facts: Comparisons between individual and dyad study using elaborative interrogatin,self-selected study and repetitious-reading

One hundred and eighty four grade 6 and 7 students processed 32 factual statements in one of two studies reported here. Half the statements were consistent with the students' prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with it. Students studied the facts alone, or with a partner, by: (1) answering 'why' questions; (2) reading the information for understanding; or (3) selecting their own method of study. Recall (free and cued) and recognition measures (immediate, 30-day, and 60-day) were used to assess learning (immediate, 30-day, and 60-day). Instructions to use elaborative interrogation produced superior learning gains relative to instructing students to read information for understanding or to select their own study strategy. Overall, there were no performance differneces as a function of individual versus dyad study. The quality of the elaborative interrogation study response affected learning. When students generated or listened to a partner's response that clarified the target facts, learning of that information was superior to when students generated or listened to other types of study responses.