Apparent movement and metacontrast: A note on Kahneman’s formulation

Recently metacontrast has been described as a case of “impossible” apparent motion. Kahneman (J 967) has supported this hypothesis with a study showing that apparent motion and metacontrast functions resemble one another. However, when visual angle, luminance, and duration vary from the values used in the Kahneman study, the resemblance between the two effects breaks down. Since the apparent motion explanation for metacontrast assumes an identity between apparent motion and metacontrast, these present results indicate that the apparent motion hypothesis for metacontrast is untenable. Metacontrast and apparent motion may not be unrelated, however; they might both have something to do with single units in the visualcortex. For each effect, however, different functional units would be involved.     

The crossword puzzle paradigm: The effectiveness of different word fragments as cues for the retrieval of words

We investigated the internal structure of words in the mental lexicon by using a crossword puzzle paradigm. In two experiments, subjects were presented with word fragments along with a semantic cue, and were asked to retrieve the whole word that contained the presented fragment and was compatible with the semantic information. In Experiment 1, we found that any cluster of three adjacent letters facilitated retrieval better than dispersed letters. Moreover, syllabic clusters had a greater facilitative effect than nonsyllabic pronounceable clusters or nonpronounceable clusters. In Experiment 2, we found that syllable units facilitated retrieval better than morphemic units. The results are interpreted as evidence for the existence of lexical subunits that are larger than the letter but smaller than the word, and that are organized according to phonologic principles. We propose an interactive model for how crossword puzzles are solved.     

Effects of serotonin-mimetic drugs on mouse-killing behavior

Muricidal behavior induced in rats by social isolation or by olfactory bulb ablation was blocked following IP administration of serotonin (5–HT) agonist 8-OH-DPAT and 5-MeODM and by 5-HT uptake inhibitors, fluoxetine and indalpine. Among uptake inhibitors, although fluoxetine has a higher IC₅₀ and a higher Ki, it is apparently more efficient than indalpine. The 5-HT agonist, 8-OH-DPAT, acting at a putative 5-HT_1A receptor, appears more efficient on muricidal inhibition than 5-MeODM, at a much lower dosage. It is highly probable that 5-HT_1A receptor rather than 5-HT_1B is involved in the antimuricidal effect of serotonin-mimetic drugs. Since 5-HT mimetic drugs blocked mouse-killing behavior of bulbectomized rats, we suggest that in the sequence of events in muricidal inhibition 5-HT circuits participate after gabaergic modulation from olfactory bulbs.     

Mood and fluency: The case of pronunciation ease,liking and trust

We explored the impact of mood on the judgemental consequences of word pronounceability in six Experiments (1 preregistered, total N = 1183). Positive and negative mood was induced via video clips (all but Experiment 4) and subliminal affective primes (Experiment 4). Additionally, participants were presented with easy- and difficult-to-pronounce letter strings. These were framed as target words to be judged for liking (Experiments 1–2), as names of eBay sellers to be judged for trustworthiness (Experiments 3–5), or as either seller names or passwords to provoke opposing interpretations of pronunciation fluency (Experiment 6). While pronounceability showed a robust effect across experiments, mood did not modulate the judgemental use of (Experiments 1–4), the correction for (Experiment 5) and the interpretation (Experiment 6) of word pronounceability. In conclusion, the judgemental effects of pronounceability persist despite the presence of more objective and task-pertinent cues, resist judgemental correction and remain unaffected by affective states.     

The right thing to do or the smart thing to do? How communicating moral or business motives for diversity affects the employment image of Dutch public and private sector organizations

Many organizations have diversity statements in place in which they publicly declare their appreciation of and commitment to workforce diversity. These statements can either contain moral motives (e.g., “diversity reduces social inequalities”), business motives (e.g., “diversity enhances innovation”), or a combination of moral and business motives. In a desk study involving 182 Dutch organizations, we found that (a) private sector organizations more often than public sector organizations communicate business motives, (b) that public and private sector organizations are equally likely to communicate moral motives, and (c) that public sector organizations more frequently than private sector organizations communicate a combination of moral and business motives. Next, we used an experimental design to examine the causal influence of communicating different diversity motives on organizations' employment image (i.e., perceptions of organizational morality, competence, and attractiveness) among prospective employees (n = 393). Here, we used a scenario in which a healthcare organization was portrayed as either a public or a private sector organization and communicated either only moral motives, only business motives or a combination of moral and business motives for diversity. We found that for a public sector organization communicating moral instead of business motives for valuing diversity induced a more favorable employment image. For a private sector organization, there were no differences in employment image depending on the motive communicated. Together, these two studies shed new light on the role of diversity motives in establishing a positive employment image.     

The Effects of Oral and Silent Reading on Reading Comprehension

This study examined the effects of reading mode (oral and silent) and text genre (narrative and expository) on fourth graders’ reading comprehension. While controlling for prior reading ability of 48 participants, we measured comprehension. Using a repeated measured design, data were analyzed using analysis of covariance, paired t-tests, and correlational statistics. Results revealed that silent reading was stronger for narrative passages in retell measures, but there was no difference for comprehension questions. The expository passages revealed no difference between the reading modes. Comprehension of narrative texts was consistently stronger than expository texts in both silent and oral reading.