Metamemory for narrative text

In this experiment, we investigated metamemory for narrative text passages. Subjects read two stories and made memory predictions for the idea units in one and rated the importance of ideas in the other. Half of the subjects were asked to recall the story immediately after reading the passages and half were asked to recall 1 week later; half received passages with single inconsistent idea units and half received passages with corresponding consistent idea units. All subjects made confidence judgments about the accuracy of their recall. Subjects’ prediction ratings were related to recall, as shown by significant prediction accuracy quotients. Importance ratings were related to recall on the delayed test but not on the immediate test. Memory prediction ratings predicted recall better than did importance ratings. The absolute level of memory predictions did not differ with delay, but subjects did give higher confidence judgments on an immediate than on a delayed test. Subjects recalled the inconsistent idea better than the consistent idea for one story but not for the other. For both stories, subjects predicted that they would remember the inconsistent ideas better, suggesting that they have avon Restorff-type view, rather than a schema view, of memory. We conclude that subjects can predict their memory for the idea units in narrative text.     

Young People's Perceptions of their Vocational Guidance Needs: Ii. Influences and Interventions

Questionnaire responses from 1,366 pupils at 20 schools in England were used to develop a scale tentatively interpreted as reflecting vocational development. This interpretation was evaluated by concurrent assessments from local careers officers and by its predictive value in the first months on the labour market. Influences on scores included reading ability, social and economic factors, and features of the school. Careers interventions were effective in increasing vocational awareness. Schools providing formal careers education in the fourth or fifth years had pupils whose scores suggested a gain of six months' vocational awareness. The input of the Careers Service was also related to the scale, pupils at schools with more active careers officers appearing more advanced in their vocational development.     

THE LATERALISATION OF EMOTION: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Recent experimental investigations on patients with unilateral brain lesions and on neurologically intact people are reviewed with a view to appreciating the role of lateralised processes in emotion. Distinctions are drawn between the perception of emotion, the expression of emotion and the interaction of these two factors in studies of latéralisation. In spite of a mass of contradictory findings, and despite the interaction of structural and cognitive factors in some studies of emotion, there are some fairly robust findings. The right hemisphere seems to be specially involved in tasks requiring emotional analysis, particularly when the tone of the displayed emotion is negative. The right hemisphere, too, appears to be particularly involved in displaying some negative emotions. Among the important problems which await resolution, we do not know whether emotional events are apprehended independently of cognitive ones, nor how mood affects the “Cerebral balance of power”.     

Perception of correlation reexamined

Almost all studies of adult notions of correlation between dichotomous variables show that people do not incorporate two conditional probabilities as they should according to normative definitions. However, these studies disagree considerably about what correlational notions people do have. This paper identifies three factors that contribute to the variability in research results. The first two factors were mentioned in the literature, and the evidence concerning them is summarized: (1) the way data are presented and (2) the instructions subjects receive. A third factor is suggested and studied; the type of variables between which correlation is judged may affect subjects’ notion of correlation, Specifically, asymmetric, present/absent variables (e.g., symptom: present, absent) may strengthen the incorrect notion of correlation as the tendency of two events to coexist (e.g., presence of symptom and presence of disease) disregarding the complementary events. In three experiments, subjects were asked to choose among five interpretations of the sentence “A strong [or no] relationship exists between [two variables],” The above prediction was confirmed.     

The secretary problem as a model of choice

The finite “secretory problem” in dynamic programming generates a set of mathematically optimal criteria for search strategies in sequential decisions. One of the limitations on its applicability has been its failure to allow for the uncertainty of whether or not a choice alternative which has been inspected sometime previous to the present, will be “available.” In this paper, extensions of the model are presented which incorporate not only a parameter for the uncertain availability of previous alternatives, but for the uncertain availability of an alternative currently being observed. The paper emphasizes socalled heuristic strategies which may be used to approximate optimal solutions, and which entail very reasonable demands on the processing capacity of the decision-maker. Laboratory realizations and potential applications are discussed.     

Attribution of intention as a function of physiognomy

Ss agree in attributing character traits to strangers’ photographs, but there has been no explication of what such labels imply. Presumably. trait names either mediate or reflect Ss’ expectations of such strangers" likely social behaviors: but that remains undemonstrated, and we may be able to study such physiognomy-tied expectations directly. Sampling problems confront trait studies and intention studies alike, but the present research showed that Ss’ expectations of a person’s behavioral intentions, as measured by alternative interpretations of short “scenarios,” were reliably influenced by that person’s photograph.     

Effects of grouping on the pupillary response in a short-term memory task

Subjects heard strings of nine digits for immediate recall, either at a monotone 1/sec. rate or in groups of three digits separated by pauses. Concurrent measurements of pupil size show a steady dilation in the monotone condition, and brief dilation-constriction waves during the pauses of grouped presentation. The results are consistent with hypotheses concerning rehearsal in the two modes of presentation. Pupillary dilations apparently accompany episodes of covert rehearsal.     

A Survey of Undergraduate Women's Social Regulations

Data concerning women undergraduates' social regulations in a selected number of coeducational colleges and universities were collected in order to identify liberal regulations in use or under consideration in these institutions grouped according to size, control, and regional location. The collected information supported considerable liberalization in the areas of room and apartment visiting, off-campus living, clothing, sign-out, curfew hours, and coeducational residence halls. Larger respondent institutions' regulations and those of Western institutions evidenced the most liberalization, while regulations of public-control and private-control institutions were considered equally liberal.