On the time course of negative priming: Another look

In two experiments, the pattern of persistence of negative priming effects across delay intervals of 500 and 2,500 msec was assessed using a within-subjects, random sequencing of delays. Neill and Valdes (1992; Neill, Valdes, Terry, & Gorfein, 1992) have argued that a within-subject experimental design is required for decay of negative priming to be seen, in contrast to results reported elsewhere (e.g., Tipper, Weaver, Cameron, Brehaut, & Bastedo, 1991) showing stable negative priming effects across delays. In neither experiment was substantial evidence of decay detected, raising questions for the notion that suppression necessarily declines across brief temporal intervals and for the assertion that episodic retrieval is the sole source of negative priming.     

PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS OF JUNIOR FACULTY IN PSYCHOLOGY

Composition and functioning of academics' professional networks were assessed in a study of 47 women and 43 men holding tenure-track assistant professor positions in psychology at sixty universities. Women's networks had significantly more women colleagues, more higher-status women colleagues, and fewer associates from their previous institutions than men's. Women also consistently rated their networks as less effective at helping them build a professional reputation. However, women were similar to men in terms of the number of "important colleagues" and higher status associates in their networks and ratings of colleagues' effectiveness at providing professional socialization, friendship, career information, and access to current research. The results suggest that by the third year at the assistant professor level, women in psychology have established a small same-sex support network, but that their larger network functioning may be beginning to diverge from men's in one important area: building a profesional reputation. Implications for women's career strategies are discussed.     

THE FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARTIFICIAL FOOD COLORS AND HYPERACTIVITY

The presence of a functional relationship between the ingestion of artificial food colors and an increase in the frequency and/or duration of selected behaviors that are representative of the hyperactive behavior syndrome was experimentally investigated. Two eight-year-old females, who had been on the Feingold K-P diet for a minimum of 11 months, were the subjects studied. The experimental design was a variation of the BAB design, with double-blind conditions. This design allowed an experimental analysis of the placebo phases as well as challenge phases. Data were obtained by trained observers on Out of Seat, On Task, and Physically Aggressive behaviors, as they occurred in the subjects' regular class setting. Results indicated (a) the existence of a functional relationship between the ingestion of artificial food colors and an increase in both the duration and frequency of hyperactive children.     

Arterial blood gases in Pranayama practice.

Pranayama is a Yogic breathing practice which is known experientially to produce a profound calming effect on the mind. In an experiment designed to determine whether the mental effects of this practice were accompanied by changes in the arterial blood gases, arterial blood was drawn from 10 trained individuals prior to and immediately after Pranayama practice. No significance changes in arterial blood gases were noted after Pranayama. A neural mechanism for the mental effects of this practice is proposed.     

Quantifiers and question answering in young children

Two hypotheses were tested about how young children answer questions with the quantifiers all and some: (a) that children use syntactic cues in determining which noun phrase is quantified, and (b) that children evaluate a some-statement as part of evaluating an all-statement. To test these hypotheses, the same group of 60 4- to 7-year-olds were asked four contrasting types of quantitative questions. The results indicated that children can use syntactic cues under some presentation conditions. However, there was no evidence for an asymmetry between the all-and some-questions. A model of how young children might answer quantitative questions was then considered.