On the validity of Raven’s matrices test: Does spatial ability contribute to performance?

The paper reports on an investigation of the convergent and discriminant validity of Raven’s matrices in considering reasoning and spatial abilities. Raven’s advanced progressive matrices (APM) and four scales representing reasoning, visualization, mental rotation and closure were applied to a sample of N = 280 university students. The data were investigated by means of structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated convergent validity of APM with respect to reasoning. In contrast, in investigating discriminant validity substantial correlations of moderate size between APM and the scales representing spatial abilities were observed. However, the investigation of the structure of the prediction of APM revealed that the scales representing spatial abilities did not improve the prediction based on the reasoning scale alone at the latent level. Consequently, it is suggested that Raven’s matrices show good convergent validity and slightly impaired discriminant validity.     

The neural regions sustaining episodic encoding and recognition of objects

In this functional MRI experiment, encoding of objects was associated with activation in left ventrolateral prefrontal/insular and right dorsolateral prefrontal and fusiform regions as well as in the left putamen. By contrast, correct recognition of previously learned objects (R judgments) produced activation in left superior frontal, bilateral inferior frontal, and right cerebellar regions, whereas correct rejection of distractor objects (N judgments) was associated with activation in bilateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, in right parietal and cerebellar regions, in the left putamen, and in the right caudate nucleus. The R minus N comparison showed activation in the left lateral prefrontal cortex and in bilateral cingulate cortices and precunei, while the N minus R comparison did not reveal any positive signal change. These results support the view that similar regions of the frontal lobe are involved in episodic encoding and retrieval processes, and that the successful episodic retrieval of newly learned objects is mainly based on a frontoparietal network.     

Temporal integration of monocular images separated in time: stereopsis, stereoacuity, and binocular luster

We evaluated stereopsis and binocular luster using electronically controlled shutter glasses with alternating monocular stimulation. In Experiment 1, we used the standard method for testing stereoacuity to obtain a gradual measure of stereopsis. Stereo thresholds decreased with increasing alternating frequency of two monocular half-images without a delay between them. Increasing delays led to increasing thresholds. In Experiment 2, we compared stereopsis resulting from two monocular half-images of a random-dot stereogram and binocular luster with respect to the minimum alternating frequency of the two half-images and the maximum interocular delay that were tolerated without a breakdown of the impression. Below 3 Hz, no stereopsis occurred. Binocular luster was observed only above 10 Hz. The mean threshold of interocular delay for detecting the global figure in a random-dot stereogram was about 51 msec, but for binocular luster it was about 20 msec. Overall, temporal integration was better for stereopsis than for binocular luster.     

The role of first- and second-order stimulus features for human overt attention

When processing complex visual input, human observers sequentially allocate their attention to different subsets of the stimulus. What are the mechanisms and strategies that guide this selection process? We investigated the influence of various stimulus features on human overt attention--that is, attention related to shifts of gaze with natural color images and modified versions thereof. Our experimental modifications, systematic changes of hue across the entire image, influenced only the global appearance of the stimuli, leaving the local features under investigation unaffected. We demonstrated that these modifications consistently reduce the subjective interpretation of a stimulus as "natural" across observers. By analyzing fixations, we found that first-order features, such as luminance contrast, saturation, and color contrast along either of the cardinal axes, correlated to overt attention in the modified images. In contrast, no such correlation was found in unmodified outdoor images. Second-order luminance contrast ("texture contrast") correlated to overt attention in all conditions. However, although none of the second-order color contrasts were correlated to overt attention in unmodified images, one of the second-order color contrasts did exhibit a significant correlation in the modified images. These findings imply, on the one hand, that higher-order bottom-up effects--namely, those of second-order luminance contrast--may partially account for human overt attention. On the other hand, these results also demonstrate that global image properties, which correlate to the subjective impression of a scene being "natural," affect the guidance of human overt attention.     

Seeing while moving: measuring the online influence of action on perception

The online influence of movement production on motion perception was investigated. Participants were asked to move one of their hands in a certain direction while monitoring an independent stimulus motion. The stimulus motion unpredictably deviated in a direction that was either compatible or incompatible with the concurrent movement. Participants' task was to make a speeded response as soon as they detected the deviation. A reversed compatibility effect was obtained: Reaction times were slower under compatible conditions—that is, when motion deviations and movements went in the same direction. This reversal of a commonly observed facilitatory effect can be attributed to the concurrent nature of the perception-action task and to the fact that what was produced was functionally unrelated to what was perceived. Moreover, by employing an online measure, it was possible to minimize the contribution of short-term memory processes, which has potentially confounded the interpretation of related effects.     

Einprägen und Aktivierung bei gleichzeitiger Variation der Absichtlichkeit des Lernens und der Ich-Bezogenheit des Lernstoffs

Zusammenfassung Eine Gruppe von Wörtern mit höherer Ich-Bezogenheit und eine von Wörtern mit niedrigerer Ich-Bezogenheit war einmal absichtlich, einmal beiläufig einzuprägen. Als abhängige Variablen dienten die Zahl der behaltenen Glieder und — zur Bestimmung des Aktiviertheitsgrades während des Einprägens — die Höhe des elektrischen Hautwiderstands. Sowohl einzeln als auch in Wechselwirkung verursachten die genannten unabhängigen Variablen bedeutsame Unterschiede hinsichtlich des Behaltens und der Aktivisierung. Der Deutung der Ergebnisse wurde die Annahme zugrunde gelegt, daß Aktivierungsvorgänge zu den Geschehnissen gehören, die für das Behalten von Bedeutung sind.

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Summary Two series of nouns with high and low emotional tone had to be memorized both intentionally and incidentally. During learning the amount of electrodermal skin resistance was registered as a measure of organismic activation, thereafter the Ss had to recall the words presented previously. The independent variables mentioned led to significant main and interaction effects in regard to both retention and activation data. The interpretation of the results is based on the assumption that retention is affected by activational processes.

     

Two Jungs. Apropos a paper by Mark Saban

Jung's idea of the ‘personal equation’ amounts to the reflection that theoretical differences between the psychologies that people teach are rooted in their personalities, in other words, that they are due to the psychology each one ‘has’. This concept also applies to different interpretations of Jung's work. The serious difficulties that Mark Saban has with my psychology are a case in point. Recourse to the concept of the personal equation reveals that Saban has his Jung and I have mine. With his insistence on his Talmudic methodological principle of dream interpretation, that ‘the dream is its own interpretation’, according to Saban Jung means nothing but a rejection of Freudian free association. My Jung goes far beyond that. Jung understands this methodological principle above all in terms of what he calls ‘circumambulation’. The main part of this paper is devoted to an elucidation of what circumambulation involves as a mode of dream interpretation. The paper concludes with the distinction Jung himself introduced between two types of reading of his work, either as ‘paper’ and ‘dead nostrums’ or as ‘fire and wind’, and pleads for a reconstruction of Jung's psychology as a whole in terms of his most advanced, deepest insights, instead of a dogmatic reading mainly based on the early Jung, a reading for which his later revolutionary insights are at best negligible embellishments.     

Happiness: Classic Theory in the Light of Current Research

Happiness is an eternal concern of philosophy and social science. Several classic intuitions about happiness get some support by the results of modern empirical research, not least, expectations about positive effects of technological development and individualization. The data do not confirm dismal predictions about anomic unhappiness. Though social development and transformation is ambivalent, the overall balance seems to be positive in modern societies.     

How the sperm dominates the ovum — objectification by metaphor in the social representation of conception

This investigation is about the use of metaphors in the everyday understanding of conception. It is argued that the analysis of the relationship between source and target domain in a metaphor used as an objectification device can help explain how social representations are acquired collectively and individually. We expect that in popular knowledge of conception the central metaphors and images relate to the subjects' everyday experience as social actors and sexual beings because social and sexual experience is pervasive and well-understood. In an experimental questionnaire study involving 169 subjects, it is shown as hypothesized that subjects prefer to compare the process of fertilization, i.e. the role and behaviour of sperms and ovum, with sexual and sex-role behaviour where the role of men is projected upon sperms and the role of women upon the ovum. This implies that sperms are seen not only as more active, but also as harder, stronger, and more dominant than the ovum. These effects are stronger, the more subjects personally subscribe to a more conservative sex-role orientation. In the discussion it is suggested that it is necessary to analyse the two intricately linked levels of objectification, the cognitive process of selecting specific images and the social process of the diffusion of popular knowledge, if we want to understand how common sense works.     

Children's metamemorial judgments in an event recall task

Two studies were conducted in which two different indicators of metacognitive monitoring were investigated in a complex everyday memory task. In the first phase of each experiment, 8- and 10-year-olds as well as adults were shown a short event (video) and gave judgments of learning, that is, rated their certainty that they would later be able to recall specific details correctly. In the second phase of the experiments, participants underwent a memory interview about the event and in Study 2 also gave confidence judgments, that is, rated their certainty that the provided answers to the memory questions were correct. Results revealed significant influences of memory characteristics on monitoring in that delaying judgments and monitoring judgments concerning irretrievable information affected judgments of learning. From 8 years of age onward, there were relatively appropriate metamemorial monitoring abilities in both indicators. Moderate intraindividual consistency was found across the two measures of metacognitive monitoring, with a tendency toward higher consistency in older age groups. The results are discussed in terms of the adequacy of the underlying theoretical construct.