Schematic or Taxonomic Organisation of the Reality and the Development of Class Logic

The experiment studied the effect of various methods of organising reality (taxonomic vs. schematic) on success in inclusion and logical complementation tasks. Seventy-two nine-year-old children were divided into four groups on the basis of their logical structuring abilities. Using three sets of material (Animals, Plants, Means of Transportation), the subjects performed a sorting task and an evaluation task in which the taxonomic and schematic modes of organising reality were opposed. Contrary to our hypothesis, the “logical includers” did not exhibit a greater capacity for taxonomic organisation than the “empirical includers” of the same age, either in the sorting or the evaluation task. The development of success in class logic tasks therefore does not appear to be linked to a change in the preferred mode of categorisation (schematic → categorical) but to the restructuring and differentiation of each of the two modes of organisation, both of which are available to the child at an early age.     

Decision and Response in Dual-Task Interference

Experiments with two stimuli (S₁and S₂) and two responses suggest the existence of a stage of processing that cannot be shared between two concurrent tasks. Widespread support has been found for the hypothesis that response selection for Task₂is postponed when the S₁to S₂stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) is short (Pashler, 1994a). At short SOAs, manipulations which impact Task₂processing prior to response selection (e.g., degradation of stimulus quality) have little effect on Task₂response times (RTs). On the other hand, manipulations which are thought to impact response selection or execution (e.g., Stroop interference) always impact Task₂RTs. There is, however, one particularly compelling demonstration that appears to be inconsistent with the response selection bottleneck hypothesis: Karlin and Kestenbaum (1968) report that the RT difference between detection (i.e., 1-choice) and 2-choice discrimination dramatically decreases with decreasing SOA. Given that the primary difference between detection and discrimination is believed to be at response selection, their result may indicate a processing bottleneck at response execution (Keele, 1973). We fail to replicate the Karlin and Kestenbaum result in two substantive replications of Karlin and Kestenbaum's tasks and procedures. In the single experiment in which Karlin and Kestenbaum's result is replicated, a simple response execution bottleneck account is ruled out by the stability of the difference between 2-choice and 3-choice discrimination times across SOA. Two additional experiments demonstrate that response preparation and task strategy do not substantially contribute to the attenuation of response selection-level effects with decreasing SOA.     

L'étude de la colère au sein des relations conjugales

A number of studies have investigated marital violence, its definition, expression, and treatment outcome. Few studies, however, have studied anger in marital relationships. The current study evaluates the link between anger and dyadic adjustment. The sample consists of 220 couples from normal and clinical populations. Results suggest that both spouses' anger is closely linked. Measures of anger intensity, the personality traits it reflects, and the anger expressed by a partner explained an important part of his or her marital distress and, to a lesser extent, the distress of the other partner. Theoretical and clinical implications based on these results are discussed.     

THE CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE: PIAGET AND THE BAOULÉ*

There are two aspects of Piaget's theory that can be at least partly distinguished: (1) The stage theory, or the development of particular concepts through a series of hierarchical stages; (2) The metatheory, or the interactionist model of adaptation (assimilation and accommodation) that explains the mechanisms of cognitive development. Most cross-cultural research has been based on the first of these aspects, using and adapting “Piagetian tasks ”in various conceptual areas. Some findings of this line of enquiry, and the methodological problems encountered, are briefly reviewed. It is argued that no specific task, nor a combination of them, can be taken to measure a general cognitive level; the tasks measure the attainment of particular concepts rather than “intelligence”. New evidence is presented on the reliability and validity of Piagetian tasks used in a cross-cultural setting. In the second model, intelligence is broadly defined as adaptation to the environment; in this conception it would be reasonable to expect divergent paths of cognitive development in different cultures. In other words, one might need a different Piagetian psychology in each culture, but based on universal deep mechanisms. As a modest contribution to a more “emic ”study of intelligence, the concept of intelligence as defined by the Baoulé of Ivory Coast, n'glouèlě is presented and discussed. Ratings on n'glouèlě and its different components are related to performance on Piagetian tasks in a sample of 8- to 9-year-old rural Baoulé children. The thrust of the paper is to point out once more the cultural relativity of any conception of intelligence, be it from a Piagetian or any other perspective.     

The right-hemisphere bias in conditional reasoning: A short report on multiple failures to replicate previous findings

Summary The present set of studies attempted to replicate Gellatly's (1985) findings that were supportive of Evan's (1982) hypothesis that the right hemisphere produces a selective bias towards the incorrect solution of a complex reasoning task. Subjects solved problems of the form if p then q. In four studies, participants simultaneously performed a bottle - balancing task on each hand to interfere with processing of the reasoning task in the right hemisphere. In the fifth study, the bottle - balancing task was replaced by a finger - sequencing task. The results of the five studies did not show that the interference with right-hemisphere activity resulted in better performance on the conditional-reasoning task. It is concluded that the hypothesis of a right-hemisphere bias in conditional reasoning is still in need of reliable findings.     

Coordinate systems in the long-term memory representation of three-dimensional shapes

Visual information can be stored relative to a particular point of view or independently of any particular point of view. Research on mental rotation has shown that people can store and use viewer-centered visual representations of objects and scenes. Some theories of object recognition posit that object-centered representations are also stored and used to represent the shape of three-dimensional objects. In this paper a series of experiments provides evidence that people can store and use both viewer-centered and object-centered representations of three-dimensional objects.     

The effect of prior experience on recognition thresholds for plane-disoriented pictures of familiar objects

We investigated plane rotation effects on the minimum presentation duration that is required in order to recognize pictures of familiar objects, using the method of ascending limits. Subjects made unspeeded verification responses, selecting from 126 written alternatives. Replicating similar identification studies in which brief, masked pictures (Lawson & Jolicoeur, 1998) were presented, disorientation reduced the efficiency of recognition. Mirroring the findings in speeded picture naming studies (e.g., Jolicoeur, 1985; Jolicoeur & Milliken, 1989), but in contrast to those of Lawson and Jolicoeur (1998), orientation effects were found over a wide range of views and were attenuated but not eliminated with experience with a given object. The results bridge the findings from unspeeded verification and speeded naming tasks. They suggest that the same orientation-sensitive processes are tapped in both cases, and that practice effects on these processes are object specific.     

Developmental study of fair division and property

This paper attempts to describe how sharing behavior develops. Subjects were pairs of children aged 4 to 15. The experimental situation follows the pattern of a rich sharing with a poor, that is, subjects do not possess the same amount at the beginning of the experiment. Three stages emerge:

• — Up to 6–7 years the subjects do not compare the different sets (initial belongings, set to be shared) and proceed often by alternating actions (give and take).
• — From 6–7 to 11–12 years they even out their final belongings (what they possess after sharing). Initial belongings and objects to be shared are considered in the same way.
• — From 11–12 years on, there is a distinction between initial belongings and the set that is to be shared, based on the assumption that they are dealing with two different types of property.

     

LANGAGE ET PENSÉE

This paper is devoted to some issues which are to be first examined in order to approach the problem of the relations between language and thought in a positive way. The term “thought” arouses distrust in the psychologists who are attached to the scientific method, because it evokes philosophical presuppositions. However, when the problem is posed in terms of what does happen in the subject or what sort of cultural reality does correspond to a system of concepts, an objective analysis is possible and has been realized in some well-known works. Then, the author emphasizes the fact that any attempt at defiring the influence of language on the development of thought, for instance, demands that both terms should not be dealt with as global entities. Discussing the priority of thought over language, or vice versa, is greatly sterilized as long as these terms are treated so. For instance, intelligence does not necessarily correspond to the same abilities before language — or independently from it — as after language — or when intelligence is informed by it. All the same, language is not a whole: a subject who has low abilities in mere grammatical forms can nevertheless use language in an efficient way. Deaf children offer great opportunities for the study of the role of language in mental development, because, by studying them, one avoids wrong explanations based only on correlations which result from the studies in normal children. The collaboration between linguists and psychologists is discussed. The difficulties which psychologists sometimes meet with the works of linguists are outlined; the author eventually suggests some issues on which the cooperation of the linguist could particularly help the psychologist.