Errors in short-term memory for good and poor readers

This study examined the role of phonetic factors in the performance of good and poor beginning readers on a verbal short-term memory task. Good and poor readers in the second and third grades repeated four-item lists of consonant-vowel syllables in which each consonant shared zero, one, or two features with other consonants in the string. As in previous studies, the poor readers performed less accurately than the good readers. However, the nature of their errors was the same: Both groups tended to transpose initial consonants as a function of their phonetic similarity and adjacency. These findings suggest that poor readers are able to employ a phonetic coding strategy in short-term memory, as do good readers, but less skillfully.     

College students' study time: course level, time of semester, and grade earned

The association of total study time, number of events, time per event ratio, study strategies, and course grades across the semester were examined by linking students' study logs to course performance. There were 37 upper-division and 109 lower-division participants. Students earning As and Bs studied more frequently at the end of the semester but for shorter periods of time than students earning lower grades. Results are discussed in terms of providing college students and faculty with recommendations about learning strategies and time spent studying.     

Perceived trustworthiness of knowledge sources: the moderating impact of relationship length

Prior meta-analytic evidence has indicated no association between relationship length and perceived trustworthiness. Viewing trustors as information processors, the authors propose a model in which relationship length, although having no direct effect on perceived trustworthiness, moderates the association between perceived trustworthiness and the basis on which people decide to trust each other. Specifically, as trustors learn about others, they base their trust on different kinds of information (demographic similarity, trustworthy behavior, and shared perspective). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses of a field survey of supervisors and subordinates from 3 companies (N = 88) provide evidence consistent with this prediction: Perceived trustworthiness is associated with demographic similarity in newer relationships, with trustworthy behavior in relationships that are neither brand new nor old but in-between, and with shared perspective in older relationships.     

Quantifying the interactions between allo- and egocentric representations of space

Under many circumstances, humans do not judge the location of objects in space where they really are. For instance, when a background is added to a target object, the judged position of a target with respect to oneself (egocentric position) is shifted in the opposite direction as the placement of such a background with respect to the body midline. It is an ongoing debate whether such effects are due to a uni- or bi-directional interaction between allo- and egocentric spatial representations in the brain, or reflect a response strategy, known as the perceived midline shift. In this study, the effects of allocentric stimulus coordinates on perceived egocentric position were examined more precisely and in a quantitative manner. Furthermore, it was investigated whether the judged allocentric position (with respect to a background) is also influenced by the egocentric position in space of that object. Allo- and egocentric coordinates were varied independently. Also, the effect of background luminance on the observed interactions between spatial coordinates was determined. Since background luminance had an effect on the size of the interaction between allocentric stimulus coordinates and egocentric judgments, and no reverse interaction was found, it seems that interactions between ego- and allocentric reference frames is most likely only unidirectional, with the latter affecting the former. This interaction effect was described in a quantitative manner.     

Capacity limits for face processing

We present three experiments in which subjects were asked to make speeded sex judgements (Experiment 1) or semantic judgements (Experiments 2 and 3) to face targets and nonface items, while ignoring a solitary flanking distractor face or a nonface stimulus. Distractors could be either congruent (same response category) or incongruent (different response category) with the target. Distractor congruency effects were consistently observed in all combinations of target-distractor stimulus pairs, except when a distractor face flanked a target face. The failure to find congruency effects in this condition was explored further in a fourth experiment, in which four task-irrelevant flankers were simultaneously presented. Once again, no face-face congruency effects were found, even though comparison distractors interfered with face and nonface targets alike. However, four simultaneously presented distractor faces did not interfere with nonface targets either. We suggest that these experiments demonstrate a capacity limit for visual processing in these conditions, such that no more than one face is processed at a time.     

Robust representations for face recognition: the power of averages

We are able to recognise familiar faces easily across large variations in image quality, though our ability to match unfamiliar faces is strikingly poor. Here we ask how the representation of a face changes as we become familiar with it. We use a simple image-averaging technique to derive abstract representations of known faces. Using Principal Components Analysis, we show that computational systems based on these averages consistently outperform systems based on collections of instances. Furthermore, the quality of the average improves as more images are used to derive it. These simulations are carried out with famous faces, over which we had no control of superficial image characteristics. We then present data from three experiments demonstrating that image averaging can also improve recognition by human observers. Finally, we describe how PCA on image averages appears to preserve identity-specific face information, while eliminating non-diagnostic pictorial information. We therefore suggest that this is a good candidate for a robust face representation.     

Forgiveness and its associations with prosocial thinking, feeling, and doing beyond the relationship with the offender

Past research has revealed that forgiveness promotes prosocial cognition, feeling, and behavior toward the offender. The present research extends this research by examining whether forgiveness may spill over beyond the relationship with the offender, promoting generalized prosocial orientation. Consistent with hypotheses, three studies revealed that forgiveness compared to unforgiveness is generally associated with higher levels of a generalized prosocial orientation, as indicated by higher levels of a we frame of mind (as indicated by a greater use of first-person plural pronouns, e.g., we, us, in a language task) and greater feelings of relatedness toward others in general. Moreover, forgiveness (vs. unforgiveness) was even associated with greater probability of donating to charity and greater willingness to engage in volunteering. Finally, the authors found that unforgiveness reduces tendencies toward generalized prosocial orientation, whereas forgiveness restores generalized prosocial orientation to baseline levels within the relationship.     

The association of paternal mood and infant temperament: A pilot study

Maternal depression is associated with adverse child development, but little is known about the effects of paternal depression. This pilot study estimated the prevalence of paternal depression and mood state, and assessed the relationship between paternal mood and infant temperament. The participants in the study were 98 fathers of newborn babies. Fathers were initially screened for depressed mood (Hospital anxiety and depression scale, and Edinburgh postnatal depression scale), and at 6 months parental mood, infant temperament, couple relationship quality, alcohol use, adverse life events, parenting, and demographics were recorded. Infant fussiness was analysed in relation to paternal mood and other contextual factors using multiple regression. Of the 98 fathers, 48 (49%) completed depression-screening measures. Of these 48 fathers, 4 (8%) reported depressive symptoms above the cut-off for case definition. A total of 48% (N=19) completed measures at follow-up. In the adjusted model, higher paternal depression scores, more traditional attitudes towards fathering, and increased recent life events were related to higher infant fussiness scores; and better couple relationship quality was related to lower fussiness scores. This study showed that 1 in 12 fathers had depressed mood, and lower mood was associated with negative infant temperament. Since the findings of this feasibility study were based on a small sample size the association of paternal mood and child development merits further study using a larger sample of fathers.     

Complex response patterns during temporally spaced responding

A series of experiments is reported in which two monkeys emitted complex response patterns, not specified by the experimental program, during the DRL component of a multiple schedule. Administration of sodium pentobarbital and dl-amphetamine, drugs which disrupted the DRL performance, were also observed to suppress these collateral responses. Sequences of these collateral responses appear to mediate, at least in part, the timing process required for reinforced performance on the DRL schedule.