Visual search in multicharacter arrays with and without gaps

Subjects searched through briefly presented arrays of letters in a controlled order, indicating quickly which of two possible targets had occurred. Some arrays contained gaps—three missing letters. Reaction time (RT) and accuracy were both improved by a gap after the target; improvement was less when the gap preceded the target. To account for these results, a new model is proposed, one which calls for overlapping processing of successive array items. This is not a “hybrid” model, but a third alternative between the two extremes of serial (zero overlap) and parallel (complete overlap). Quantified, the overlapping model generates U-shaped serial-position curves and produces RT predictions in good accord with our data from arrays with and without gaps. The predicted functions for RT vs. array size are concave upward; however, for arrays of five or less they are virtually linear and not very different in slope for positive and negative trials. Although this model is primarily designed for RT, with some additional assumptions it can be extended to accuracy results.     

The effect of organismic disadvantage on allocation behavior in children

Equity theory (Adams, 1965) suggests that when persons are asked to divide a given amount of reward between two other persons, one relatively more disadvantaged than the other at performing a task, they will make allocations that are disproportionate to the two persons' performance levels, giving the disadvantaged person a disproportionately larger share and the advantaged person a disproportionately smaller share of the reward. The theory attributes this effect to the allocator's perception that the disadvantaged individual expended a disproportionately greater amount of effort. A group of third- and fourth-graders and a group of seventh-graders were asked to divide rewards between pairs of children that were described to vary in age (“younger” vs. older) or ability (“unskilled” vs. skilled) or that were the “same” in age and ability and that were described to vary (5 vs. 15, or 0 vs. 20 baskets) or to be equal (10 vs. 10 baskets) in performance on a basketball-shooting task. Unlike the group of third- and fourth-graders, the seventh-graders generally made significantly larger allocations to the disadvantaged individuals (“younger” and “unskilled”) than to the “same” individuals, making the largest allocations under the most discrepant performance condition (0 vs. 20). Overall, the results suggested that the equity principle becomes more salient in children as age increases.     

Hans-Martin Sass,Robert M. Veatch,Rihito Kimura (eds.). Advance Directives and Surrogate Decision Making in Health Care

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

psiTurk: An open-source framework for conducting replicable behavioral experiments online

Online data collection has begun to revolutionize the behavioral sciences. However, conducting carefully controlled behavioral experiments online introduces a number of new of technical and scientific challenges. The project described in this paper, psiTurk, is an open-source platform which helps researchers develop experiment designs which can be conducted over the Internet. The tool primarily interfaces with Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a popular crowd-sourcing labor market. This paper describes the basic architecture of the system and introduces new users to the overall goals. psiTurk aims to reduce the technical hurdles for researchers developing online experiments while improving the transparency and collaborative nature of the behavioral sciences.     

Comment: Starting to Solve the Method Puzzle in Salesperson Self-Report Evaluations

In a recent Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management paper, Jaramillo, Carrillat, and Locander (JCL) further extended our understanding of the errors of salesperson self-report evaluations when compared to managerial evaluations. Our paper provides contrary evidence on three major conclusions drawn in this study. First, we question the assertion by JCL that the correlation between self-report and objective measures of performance is consistently low. Second, we question JCL’s claim that the correlation between managerial evaluations and objective measures of performance is consistently high. Third, we question the key finding of JCL that self-report measures of salesperson performance are less accurate than managerial evaluations. We provide an alternative perspective to these issues by highlighting past research on performance measurement. Moreover, we reanalyze data from a previously published study to examine the issues raised by JCL. Our expectation is that this comment will serve as an impetus for further research in this area.     

Improving the Generalization of Computer-Based Math Fluency Building Through the Use of Sufficient Stimulus Exemplars

Computers have become an important piece of technology in classrooms for implementing academic interventions. Often, students’ responses to these interventions are used to help make important educational decisions. Therefore, it is important to consider the effect of these interventions across multiple contexts. For example, previous research has demonstrated that when students practice math fact fluency on the computers gains did not generalize to paper–pencil performance. The current study extended this research by examining the effect of multiple stimulus exemplars on the generalization of computer-based math practice to paper–pencil performance. A total of 57 second-grade students completed fluency drills only on the computer, computer mixed with paper–pencil or with only paper–pencil. Pretest–posttest performance was evaluated using a 3 × 2 doubly multivariate repeated-measures ANOVA, with follow-up univariate analysis to determine whether the interaction between time and treatment type was similar across matched and unmatched treatment modalities. Results from previous research were replicated with a lack of generalization across modalities, but the addition of multiple stimulus exemplars resulted in increased generalization for those students receiving a mix of computer and paper–pencil practice.     

An implicit basis for the retention benefits of random practice

The cognitive effort explanations of contextual interference (CI) and implicit motor learning represent a paradox in which cognitive involvement is seen to be advantageous or disadvantageous for learning. The authors aimed to resolve this paradox by measuring cognitive effort and working memory dependence during low and high CI practice on two Australian Rules Football tasks (kicking and handball). Measures of cognitive effort included: kicking and handball outcome performance during acquisition and during a test of retention, performance on a probe reaction time task during a sample of acquisition trials, and self-reported levels of cognitive effort. Measures of implicit and explicit learning included kicking and handball performance during a secondary task transfer, and self-report verbal protocols (number of verbal rules and hypotheses reported). The results suggest that high CI may cause an implicit mode of learning, perhaps due to the interference caused by task switching. However, these findings are restricted to the more complex of the 2 tasks (kicking).     

Deficits in Attention to Emotional Stimuli Distinguish Youth with Severe Mood Dysregulation from Youth with Bipolar Disorder

Studying attention in the context of emotional stimuli may aid in differentiating pediatric bipolar disorder (BD) from severe mood dysregulation (SMD). SMD is characterized by chronic irritability, arousal, and hyper-reactivity; SMD youth frequently receive a BD diagnosis although they do not meet DSM-IV criteria for BD because they lack manic episodes. We compared 57 BD (14.4 ± 2.9 years old, 56% male), 41 SMD (12.6 ± 2.6 years old, 66% male), and 33 control subjects (13.7 ± 2.5 years old, 52% male) using the Emotional Interrupt task, which examines how attention is impacted by positive, negative, or neutral distracters. We compared reaction time (RT) and accuracy and calculated attention interference scores by subtracting performance on neutral trials from emotional trials. Between-group analyses indicated that SMD subjects had significantly reduced attention interference from emotional distracters relative to BD and control subjects. Thus, attention in SMD youth was not modulated by emotional stimuli. This blunted response in SMD youth may contribute to their affective and behavioral dysregulation.