Focusing on the relation: fewer exemplars facilitate children's initial verb learning and extension

One of the most prominent theories for why children struggle to learn verbs is that verb learning requires the abstraction of relations between an object and its action (Gentner, 2003). Two hypotheses suggest how children extract relations to extend a novel verb: (1) seeing many different exemplars allows children to detect the invariant relation between actions in different contexts (Gentner, 2003), and (2) repetition of fewer exemplars allows children to move beyond the entities involved to extract the relation (Kersten & Smith, 2002). We tested 2 1/2- and 3-year-olds' ability to extend a novel verb after viewing the repetition of one novel actor compared to four different actors performing a novel action. Both ages were better at learning and extending a novel verb to a novel actor when shown only one actor rather than four different actors. These results indicate that during initial verb learning less information is more effective.     

The influence of evaluation and potency on perceivers' causal attributions

In two experiments, this paper examines how the labels used to describe interpersonal interactions can affect perceivers' judgments of who caused the interaction. Two universal, connotative dimensions of word meaning underlying the labels, evaluation and potency, influenced expectations about interactants' behaviors and experiences, which in turn affected perceivers' causal attributions. Evaluation and potency ratings for a set of experiencer verbs, a set of action verbs, a set of trait labels (Experiment 1) and a set of social category labels (Experiment 2) were used to construct sentences describing interactions between two people. The complete set of sentences contained all possible combinations of high or low evaluation and potency for all the sentence constituents. Participants were asked to judge who caused the event—subject or object—without having been told that evaluation and potency were the dimensions of interest. When the sentence subject and object differed in evaluation, the evaluative match between the sentence subject and the verb was the most important factor influencing attributions. The potency of the constituents and the class of the verb (experiencer or action) affected the magnitude of the attributions. When the sentence subject and object shared the same valence, attributions were based on verb class. The results highlight the important role of language in interpreting social behavior. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-Reported Differences in the Experience and Expression of Anger Between Girls and Boys

Gender differences with regard to the emotion of anger were studied using elementary school-aged children in an urban, a suburban, and a rural school district. Both the suburban and rural samples were predominantly white (88% and 82%, respectively) while the urban sample was predominantly black (57%). Five hundred and fifty seven 4th and 5th grade children (287 boys and 270 girls) were given a self-report anger questionnaire. No significant differences were found between boys and girls in the self-reported total anger level However, item analysis indicated that some of the specific hypothetical situations that elicited anger differed in boys and girls. In addition, there were significant differences in the expression of anger between boys and girls. Consistent with previous research, boys reported significantly higher levels of aggressive responses. The location in which the children attended school emerged as an important variable with regard to the experience and expression of anger. As a group, urban youngsters reported significantly higher levels of anger than children who attended school in rural or suburban settings.     

HEURISTICS FOR DETERMINING THE OPTIMAL INTERVAL BETWEEN CHECKUPS

Abstract –How often should one check on a system that is at risk for some malfunction? The optimal interval between inspections depends on the likelihood of malfunction, the cost of inspection, and the cost of treatment We develop a mathematical expression for the optimal inspection interval as a function of these parameters and then an approximation for that expression The approximation indicates that as the risk increases or the ratio of inspection to disease cost decreases by a factor of n, the inspection interval should be reduced by n1/2 We also report an experiment indicating that subjects who generate optimal inspection intervals use examples as anchors and then perform adjustments for variations in risk and cost factors However, they do not approximate the appropriate square-root adjustment rule The observed anchor-and-adjust process suggests that normative recommendations may serve as influential benchmarks, even if they are not adhered to directly.     

Differential effects of frequency shifted feedback between child and adult stutterers

It has been reported previously that presentation of an altered form of the voice enhances the fluency of people who stutter. One of these forms of alteration is frequency shifted feedback. The effects of frequency shifted feedback was compared between two speaker groups that differed in age. The fluency enhancing effects of frequency shifted feedback was greater for adult speakers (mean age 21;3) than for children (mean age 9;11). The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and treatment.     

Tactile roughness perception with a rigid link interposed between skin and surface

Subjects made roughness judgments of textured surfaces made of raised elements, while holding stick-like probes or through a rigid sheath mounted on the fingertip. These rigid links, which impose vibratory coding of roughness, were compared with the finger (bare or covered with a compliant glove), using magnitude-estimation and roughness differentiation tasks. All end effectors led to an increasing function relating subjective roughness magnitude to surface interelement spacing, and all produced above-chance roughness discrimination. Although discrimination was best with the finger, rigid links produced greater perceived roughness for the smoothest stimuli. A peak in the magnitude-estimation functions for the small probe and a transition from calling more sparsely spaced surfaces rougher to calling them smoother were predictable from the size of the contact area. The results indicate the potential viability of vibratory coding of roughness through a rigid link and have implications for teleoperation and virtual-reality systems.     

Multipotential Abilities and Vocational Interests in Gifted Adolescents: Fact or Fiction?

The widely held view that highly intellectually gifted adolescents are multipotential in their abilities and career interests was investigated in two samples (N = 322 and N = 217) of gifted high school seniors. Three measures of intellectual abilities—verbal, mathematical, and mechanical—and a measure of vocational interest based upon nonacademic talented activities and accomplishments that yielded scores for vocational interest in three areas—Science, Social, and Artistic—were administered. Contrary to the widely held view, a very large proportion of intellectually gifted adolescents reported a differentiated pattern of both abilities and interests, and a very small proportion reported the expected high-flat ability and interest profiles. The findings suggest that the working assumptions of career education and counselling of intellectually gifted adolescents should perhaps be reconsidered.     

Integration of features in comparing multifeature stimuli

For a series of trials, the subject indicated whether or not two face-like stimuli were identical with respect to the features they contained (a positive or negative response, respectively); reaction time (RT) was recorded. The stimuli were separated by .5 or 4.0 sec, and each contained either two or three features. On some trials, the features of the first stimulus were represented within a single head outline; on others, they were distributed over several spatially separated outlines (components). Positive-response RT increased with the number of stimulus features and with the number of first-stimulus components (c); these two factors were additive. Negative-response RT increased with c, decreased with the number of differing features, and these two factors interacted. These effects did not vary with interstimulus interval. The results indicate that the subject did not integrate the first-stimulus components, but instead compared the second stimulus to each component, holistically (for positive responses) or analytically (for negative responses).     

Using visual codes for comparisons of pictures

In two experiments, Ss indicated for a series of trials whether or not two pictures of common objects had the same name (a positive or negative response, respectively). The pictures were separated by one of three interstimulus intervals (ISis), and reaction time (RT) was recorded. In Experiment I, positive trials involved pictures that were identical (identity match), mirror images (mirror match), or physically different but had the same name (name match). The stimuli came from either an S set, in which name-match pairs were physically similar, or a D set, in which name-match pairs were physically dissimilar. The mean RTs for mirror and identity matches were virtually the same but faster than name-match RTs, an advantage that decreased with increasing ISI. It was expected that name-match RT for the S set would be less than for the D set, indicating a facilitative effect of physical similarity; however, the identity-match RTs showed the expected difference. These results were extended in Experiment II, which involved only the identity and name matches, in pure sessions (which included positive trials of just one type) or mixed sessions (which included both types of positive trials). For mixed sessions, name- as well as identity-match RTs differed between the S and D sets. These results provide evidence for the use of visual codes in comparing nonidentical pictures, codes that apparently vary with experimental context and task demands.