Intellectual freedom and editorial responsibilities within the context of controversial research

The primary purpose of this article is to explore the limits that an agent, such as the government or the American Psychological Association, may place on one's right to pursue a program of research or to share the findings of a research project. The primary argument that evolves here is that researchers' rights to pursue an interesting hypothesis, and their freedom of expression, are conditional. The author examines the potential pragmatic and epistemological barriers to a program of research and the responsibilities that researchers bear to address epistemological and nonepistemological matters while reviewing the implications of their work.     

Tau and Kappa effects in physical space: the case of audition

The organization of spatio-temporal information in an auditory memory task was studied in two experiments. Stimuli consisted of four different configurations of eight sequentially presented beeps. In two configurations, the stimuli were space-time congruent, with (constant or variable) inter-stimulus distances corresponding to (constant or variable) inter-stimulus time intervals. In the other two configurations, the stimuli were space-time incongruent, with (constant or variable) inter-stimulus distances not corresponding to (variable or constant) inter-stimulus time intervals. After a learning phase consisting of 20 presentations of the target configuration, participants reproduced the spatial (Experiment 1) or temporal (Experiment 2) characteristics of the target 60 times in succession without re-examining the target configuration. Accuracy (with respect to the target) and variability (between responses) were found to evolve independently. In the incongruent space-time conditions, effects of variable inter-stimulus time intervals or distances on the reproduction of, respectively, constant distances (Tau effect) or constant time intervals (Kappa effect) were observed, while the reverse was not the case. Thus, dimensional interference occurred when the dimension to be ignored was variable. The results are discussed in the light of the distinction between properties of the stabilized mental image and the process of stabilization.     

Disclosing Sexual Assault Within Social Networks: A Mixed‐Method Investigation

Most survivors of sexual assault disclose their experiences within their social networks, and these disclosure decisions can have important implications for their entry into formal systems and well‐being, but no research has directly examined these networks as a strategy to understand disclosure decisions. Using a mixed‐method approach that combined survey data, social network analysis, and interview data, we investigate whom, among potential informal responders in the social networks of college students who have experienced sexual assault, survivors contact regarding their assault, and how survivors narrate the role of networks in their decisions about whom to contact. Quantitative results suggest that characteristics of survivors, their social networks, and members of these networks are associated with disclosure decisions. Using data from social network analysis, we identified that survivors tended to disclose to a smaller proportion of their network when many network members had relationships with each other or when the network had more subgroups. Our qualitative analysis helps to contextualize these findings.     

The effect of orthographic structure and lexical meaning on “same-different” judgments

Pairs of high frequency English words, orthographically acceptable pseudo-words, and non-word letter strings were presented in a “same”-“different” task. The mean reaction times for “same” judgments were ordered; real words were faster than pseudo-words, and pseudo-words were faster than non-words. The RTs for the “different”, judgments showed no differences among the three types of words, except in the first two days of practice in a blocked presentation condition when the difference between the real words and non-words was marginally significant. These and other results suggest that “same” judgments are based upon a comparison process which efficiently uses higher order semantic and orthographic information in words, whereas “different” judgments are based upon comparison process which performs a self-terminating search of the graphemic information in words. The results were also discussed with reference to hierarchical models of word perception and reading.     

Wrinkling and head shape as coordinated sources of age-level information

Changes in the shape of a human head and the development of facial wrinkles were examined as potential sources of information about age level. In Experiment 1, subjects estimated the ages of faces that had been produced by systematically manipulating characteristic head shapes and levels of wrinkles associated with ages 15, 30, 50, and 70 years. The results indicated that observers used both sources of craniofacial change in making age estimates; but the effect of either source of change on perceived age depended upon the level of the other source of change. In Experiment 2, subjects’ ratings of the apparent conflict between levels of head shape and wrinkles further substantiated the conclusion that observers are sensitive to the coordination of products of the two sources of change. These findings suggest that the information specifying perceived age level is a complexrelationship among different types of craniofacial change.     

The two paradigms of persistence

Persistence refers to the extent to which an individual pursues reinforcement that is no longer available. The most common generalization regarding persistence is the partial reinforcement extinction effect, which states that partial, rather than continuous, reinforcement creates the greatest level of persistence. Although the partial reinforcement effect is the most common effect in humans, exceptions exist, namely the generalized and the reversed partial reinforcement effect. Since the 1930s, psychologists have used 2 general paradigms for studying persistence in humans: the experimental paradigm and the cognitive/individual differences paradigm. For the experimental paradigm, the primary independent variable is the schedule of reinforcement used to establish the behavior prior to the removal of reinforcement. Explanations of persistence from the experimental perspective depend on associative principles derived from various theories of learning. By contrast, the cognitive/individual differences paradigm treats persistence as a function of trait variables, including locus of control and self-esteem, or general cognitive processes, such as cognitive dissonance or social cognition. In this article, the author reviews the status of the current literature on persistence and recommends directions for future research.