Subjective randomness and natural scene statistics

Accounts of subjective randomness suggest that people consider a stimulus random when they cannot detect any regularities characterizing the structure of that stimulus. We explored the possibility that the regularities people detect are shaped by the statistics of their natural environment. We did this by testing the hypothesis that people’s perception of randomness in two-dimensional binary arrays (images with two levels of intensity) is inversely related to the probability with which the array’s pattern would be encountered in nature. We estimated natural scene probabilities for small binary arrays by tabulating the frequencies with which each pattern of cell values appears. We then conducted an experiment in which we collected human randomness judgments. The results show an inverse relationship between people’s perceived randomness of an array pattern and the probability of the pattern appearing in nature.     

Advanced Understanding of Imagination as the Mediator between Five-Factor Model and Creativity

This study examined the mediating role of capability-oriented imagination between personality traits and creativity, by combining two sub-studies. A total of 612 student participants were recruited from universities in Taiwan. Study 1 calibrated the factors of the three variables and validated three instruments of the variables, and the results were consistent with previous studies. The results also indicated that the relationships among the variables of the full five-factor personality traits, capability-oriented imagination, and two-feature creativity were valuable, which prompted further examination. Study 2 adopted structural equation modeling, which not only validated the mediating role of imagination between five-factor personality traits and two-feature creativity but also revealed that various personality traits can improve original or useful creativity through imagination as a mediator. The originality aspect of creativity can be jointly predicted by the variables of initiating and conceiving imagination, with influence (in order, high to low) from openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. The creativity aspects of usefulness can be jointly predicted by the variables of transforming and conceiving imagination, with influence (in order, high to low) from conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness. The study also proposes directions for future research.     

Depth of facial expression processing depends on stimulus visibility: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of priming effects

Participants performed a priming task during which emotional faces served as prime stimuli and emotional words served as targets. Prime-target pairs were congruent or incongruent, and two levels of prime visibility were obtained by varying the duration of the masked primes. To probe a neural signature of the impact of the masked primes, lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) were recorded over motor cortex. In the high-visibility condition, responses to word targets were faster when the prime-target pairs were congruent than when they were incongruent, providing evidence of priming effects. In line with the behavioral results, the electrophysiological data showed that high-visibility face primes resulted in LRP differences between congruent and incongruent trials, suggesting that prime stimuli initiated motor preparation. Contrary to the above pattern, no evidence for reaction time or LRP differences was observed in the low-visibility condition, revealing that the depth of facial expression processing is dependent on stimulus visibility.     

The Antecedent and Consequence of Person–Organization Fit: Ingratiation,similarity, hiring recommendations and job offer

This study investigates how the ingratiation and perceived similarity of a job applicant can affect the judgment of an interviewer in determining person–organization fit (P–O fit), hiring recommendations and the job offer during a job interview. Data were collected from 144 interviewers and 184 applicants from 28 companies in Taiwan. The results suggest that applicant ingratiation has a positive effect on an interviewer's perceived similarity with the applicant, and that this perceived similarity mediates the relationship between applicant ingratiation and the interviewer's judgment of the applicant's P–O fit. The results further suggest that the relationship between the interviewer's judgment of the applicant's P–O fit and the job offer is mediated by hiring recommendations. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Orthographic combinability and phonological consistency effects in reading Chinese phonograms: an event-related potential study

In this study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to trace the temporal dynamics of phonological consistency and phonetic combinability in the reading of Chinese phonograms. The data showed a significant consistency-by-combinability interaction at N170. High phonetic combinability characters elicited greater negativity at N170 than did low phonetic combinability characters, and the combinability effect was only found in the reading of high consistency characters. The results support the phonological mapping hypothesis of the reading-related N170 effect and suggest that the earlier stages of visual word recognition are shaped by the mapping of orthography to phonology even in Chinese. Moreover, our data revealed both consistency and combinability effects at P200 and N400, accounted for by the two-stage framework for visual word recognition. That is, characters with high combinability or high consistency facilitated the earlier stages of orthographic or phonological processing which were due to increased activation at the perceptual level; consequently, less positive P200 was demonstrated. In the later stages, high combinability or high consistency characters were associated with a larger semantic neighborhood, which increased semantic competition and exaggerated the N400 effect. These data support the assumption of radical-based inputs proposed by the lexical constituent model. However, the phonetic consistency effects found at N170 and P200 cannot be reconciled with the current framework of the lexical constituent model. A possible revision will be discussed.     

Statistical inference for multiple choice tests

Finite sample inference procedures are considered for analyzing the observed scores on a multiple choice test with several items, where, for example, the items are dissimilar, or the item responses are correlated. A discrete p-parameter exponential family model leads to a generalized linear model framework and, in a special case, a convenient regression of true score upon observed score. Techniques based upon the likelihood function, Akaike's information criteria (AIC), an approximate Bayesian marginalization procedure based on conditional maximization (BCM), and simulations for exact posterior densities (importance sampling) are used to facilitate finite sample investigations of the average true score, individual true scores, and various probabilities of interest. A simulation study suggests that, when the examinees come from two different populations, the exponential family can adequately generalize Duncan's beta-binomial model. Extensions to regression models, the classical test theory model, and empirical Bayes estimation problems are mentioned. The Duncan, Keats, and Matsumura data sets are used to illustrate potential advantages and flexibility of the exponential family model, and the BCM technique.The authors wish to thank Ella Mae Matsumura for her data set and helpful comments, Frank Baker for his advice on item response theory, Hirotugu Akaike and Taskin Atilgan, for helpful discussions regarding AIC, Graham Wood for his advice concerning the class of all binomial mixture models, Yiu Ming Chiu for providing useful references and information on tetrachoric models, and the Editor and two referees for suggesting several references and alternative approaches.     

Cultural and emotional components of loneliness and depression

The relation between loneliness and depression and the distinction between emotional and social loneliness were examined by administering the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, the Belcher Extended Loneliness Scale (BELS), the Beck Depression Inventory, and self-report questions about social and emotional loneliness to the following four groups: foreign (Chinese-descent) students in American universities, Chinese students in Taiwanese universities, American students in American universities, and depressed American clients. Depressed clients reported not only more depression but also more overall loneliness than did any of the other groups; they also were more likely to report emotional loneliness or both emotional and social loneliness than were the other three groups. Foreign students, in contrast, reported more social loneliness than did Taiwanese students. Results substantiate the view that loneliness is not a unitary concept and suggest that the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the BELS emphasize emotional rather than social loneliness and that emotional loneliness is a greater component of depression than is social loneliness.     

前额叶切除对于猕猴分辨反转的影响

一、在5只正常猕猴上进行了圆锥体与圆柱体的分辨反转学习训练。对反转后即刻分辨、反转学习速度和长时记忆作了观察。结果表明,随着反复训练,反转后即刻分辨正确率逐步有所提高,反转学习速度也可进一步加快。此外,猴对反转后即刻分辨的长时记忆也是相当巩固的。 二、两侧前额叶背侧面皮层切除后,分辨反转受到影响。这主要表现在反转后即刻分辨的正确率显著下降,动物出现“顽固性”错误。一侧手术后影响不大。