Young children produce categorical false recall without activation of the lure items

Individuals who study a list of words that are all related to another word that is not presented (a lure word) sometimes produce a false memory of having studied the lure word. The false memories are observed in lists of words that are in the same category as (category list) or associated with (associative list) a word that was not presented in an attempt to elicit false recall. The present study investigated whether young children create these types of false recall. Following the study of a categorical list, false recall was elicited in young children to the same degree as in adults, but studying an associative list elicited false recall only in adults. Furthermore, categorically related lure words did not have a priming effect in young children. These results suggest that the categorical false recall is produced via a different mechanism from the associative false recall.     

High Self-Deceivers Internalize Self-Presentation of Extraversion Through Biased Evaluation of Their Performance1

This study examined whether high self-deceivers form their overly positive perception of their traits through overestimating their performance of self-presentation where they need to impress others as being extraverted/introverted, exhibiting more internalization of self-presentation (IOSP) of the trait. Participants were instructed to give either an extraverted or introverted impression through an oral (Study 1, N = 39) or written (Study 2, N = 62) self-presentation. Participants reported dispositional self-deception, self-presentation efficacy, and extraversion before and after self-presentation. Independent raters provided other-reported extraversion by examining the self-presentation. Across the two studies, two-way mixed ANOVA revealed that predicted change in extraversion occurred only for participants who made extraverted self-presentation. With the change in extraversion as an index of IOSP, mediation analyses revealed indirect effects of dispositional self-deception on IOSP via self-presentation efficacy but not other-reported extraversion. These results suggested that (a) people only internalize socially desirable traits like extraversion but not introversion, (b) writing to others is sufficient to cause IOSP, and (c) high self-deceivers internalize extraverted self-presentation not through actual performance but its subjective evaluation.     

A Classroom-Based Study on the Antecedents of Epistemic Curiosity in L2 Learning

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - This classroom-based study investigated the antecedents of epistemic curiosity among 25 Thai university students in an English oral communication course....     

Self-construal predicts reading motivation: A comparison between Hispanic American and Japanese college students

Social Psychology of Education - Self-construal refers to how individuals view themselves independently from others (Independent self-construal) or interdependently with others (Interdependent...     

How does orthographic knowledge influence performance on phonological awareness tasks?

Three experiments explored the nature of orthographic influences on performance on phonological awareness tasks. Experiment 1 demonstrated that adults find it easier to perform phoneme deletions on items where there is a direct correspondence between letters and target sounds (e.g., take the /r@/ from struggle) than where there is not (e.g., take the /w@/ from squabble). Analogous results were found in a phoneme reversal task. Spelling production ability tended to correlate more strongly with performance on the former type of item than on the latter, suggesting that elevated performance on phonological awareness tasks is associated with the use of orthographic information. Experiment 2 produced similar results in Grade 5 children. Experiment 3 suggested that adults cannot inhibit orthographic activation when it is disadvantageous to them, as they performed no better on items such as squabble when they were presented in pure blocks than when they were presented in mixed blocks. It is concluded that there are substantial automatic orthographic influences on phonological awareness task performance that need to be taken into account in interpreting data concerning the relationship between phonological awareness and reading.     

Case alternation effect: Two types of word recognition?

Two experiments were conducted to test Besner's (1983) claim that the lexical decision task involves a type of recognition mechanism that simply monitors the visual familiarity of the target without uniquely specifying the word. The experiments tested the combined effects of case alternation and decision type, and case alternation and word frequency in a lexical decision task and in a task requiring speeded decisions about the syntactic usage of target words. Contrary to Besner's proposal, case alternation did not affect word decisions more than nonword decisions in the lexical decision task. Further, the finding of additive effects of case alternation and word frequency in the two tasks was also at odds with the prediction derived from Besner's account. The discrepancy between the results obtained by Besner and the present lexical decision task was discussed in terms of different decision strategies, and it was suggested that under conditions of difficult word-nonword discrimination, the global visual familiarity of the target is not involved in making lexical decisions.     

How Single Older Men Reach Poverty and Its Relationship with Help-Seeking Preferences1

This study aimed to clarify patterns of poverty among single older men and examine this population's help-seeking preferences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 83 older single men in poverty. Three main patterns of poverty were identified: lifelong, job turnover, and retirement. A common characteristic among these patterns indicated that they did not recognize their difficulties as problems. Furthermore, we identified five groups of help-receiving preferences: independent, resignation, mutual-aid, other-oriented, and seeking. Among these, the independent and resignation groups were influenced by past experiences of failing to seek help, which was characteristic of the lifelong pattern type. Furthermore, the mutual-aid and seeking groups were oriented toward positive help-seeking, which was characteristic of the job turnover and retirement pattern types. However, neither group actively sought help for social isolation or lack of social support, suggesting that it would have been challenging to establish social relationships early on in life. Thus, it is important to establish initiatives that enable older people to understand their current state and to think about their future depending on three patterns of poverty.