A beautiful day in the neighborhood: What factors determine the generation effect for simple multiplication problems?

In four experiments, we examined the generation effect for the free recall of simple multiplication answers. Large-product-size problems showed a consistent generation-effect advantage over small-product-size problems, except when each answer was generated twice, via two different sets of operands (Experiment 2). Also, measures of problem-solution time and strategy use accounted for the large-product-size advantage. Across experiments, however, small-product-size problems (but not large-product-size problems) showed considerable variation in the size of their generation effect. We discovered that solving small-product-size problems via direct memory retrieval increased the episodic recall probability of other problems that were near neighbors to the generated answer, and we attribute this result to a spreading activation mechanism in semantic memory. A measure of neighbor activations, combined with RT to solve each problem, accounted for 51% of the observed generation-effect variance.     

The Incarcerated Female Felon and Substance Abuse: Demographics,Needs Assessment,and Program Planning for a Neglected Population

Incarcerated women (203 of 237) completed a needs survey designed by an inmate steering committee. The typical inmate was a European American mother of 2 children. Relevant programming (substance abuse education classes, self-study programs, didactic groups and workshops) is discussed.     

Spectral restoration of speech: Intelligibility is increased by inserting noise in spectral gaps

In order to function effectively as a means of communication, speech must be intelligible under the noisy conditions encountered in everyday life. Two types of perceptual synthesis have been reported that can reduce or cancel the effects of masking by extraneous sounds: Phonemic restoration can enhance intelligibility when segments are replaced or masked by noise, and contralateral induction can prevent mislateralization by effectively restoring speech masked at one ear when it is heard in the other. The present study reports a third type of perceptual synthesis induced by noise: enhancement of intelligibility produced by adding noise to spectral gaps. In most of the experiments, the speech stimuli consisted of two widely separated narrow bands of speech (center frequencies of 370 and 6000 Hz, each band having high-pass and low-pass slopes of 115 dB/octave meeting at the center frequency). These very narrow bands effectively reduced the available information to frequency-limited patterns of amplitude fluctuation lacking information concerning formant structure and frequency transitions. When stochastic noise was introduced into the gap separating the two speech bands, intelligibility increased for “everyday” sentences, for sentences that varied in the transitional probability of keywords, and for monosyllabic word lists. Effects produced by systematically varying noise amplitude and noise bandwidth are reported, and the implications of some of the novel effects observed are discussed.     

An examination of the relationship between visual capture and prism adaptation

The phenomena of prismatically induced “visual capture” and adaptation of the hand were compared. In Experiment 1, it was demonstrated that when the subject’s hand was transported for him by the experimenter (passive movement) immediately preceding the measure of visual capture, the magnitude of the immediate shift in felt limb position (visual capture) was enhanced relative to when the subject moved the hand himself (active movement). In Experiment 2, where the dependent measure was adaptation of the prism-exposed hand, the opposite effect was produced by the active/passive manipulation. It appears, then, that different processes operate to produce visual capture and adaptation. It was speculated that visual capture represents an immediate weighting of visual over proprioceptive input as a result of the greater precision of vision and/or the subject’s tendency to direct his attention more heavily to this modality. In contrast, prism adaptation is probably a recalibration of felt limb position in the direction of vision, induced by the presence of a registered discordance between visual and proprioceptive inputs.     

Proactive interference in immediate serial recall

Two experiments yielded significant inter-list proactive interference (PI) in immediate serial recall of nine-consonants lists. This argues against the assumption that intra-trial rehearsal is sufficiently powerful to prevent PI from occurring. In the first experiment PI proved to be more pronounced in the case of visually than of auditorily presented lists to the extent that the modality effect on the prerecent items could be completely attributed to PI. PI also enlarged the effect of output interference through reversed order recall. These findings were confirmed in the second experiment which also showed that the effect of PI persisted at a slower presentation rate, suggesting that the role of rehearsal in counteracting PI should not be overestimated. Implications of these results for current notions on short-term retention are discussed.     

An integration of shifts toward risk and caution in gambling situations

Findings have been reported and replicated indicating group-induced caution at the racetrack and group-induced risk in blackjack gambling. The present research examined the effects of two consistent differences between the blackjack and racetrack situations: (a) the amount of money available to groups versus individuals; and (b) the number of bets made in the postbaseline session. It was found that group-induced caution can occur in the blackjack setting if groups have larger stakes than individuals, as was the case in the racetrack studies, and that this effect disappears over trials, due to group versus individual differences established in the previous blackjack studies. Since current explanations of choice shifts cannot account for the observed trial effects, it was suggested that traditional choice-dilemma material, on which these explanations are largely based, be examined for such effects. Implications of the possible outcomes of such an examination for current group polarization theory were discussed.     

Effects of amphetamine and barbiturate in a serial reaction task under paced and self-paced conditions.

Effects of drug conditions (barbiturate, amphetamine, placebo) were investigated in a serial choice RT-task under three pacing conditions: self-paced, paced-fast (approx. 3 signals/sec) and paced-slow (approx. 1 signal/sec). Drug treatment and pacing condition were varied in a factorial design with 9 male Ss. Drugs affected the reaction time but not the error scores. Barbiturate slowed down RT and this effect was most prominent in paced-fast. Amphetamine, on the other hand, speeded up the RT but it had no effect in paced-fast. To account for these differential effects of the two drugs, it was postulated that barbiturate counteracts the arousing effect of time pressure whereas amphetamine speeds up reaction when the task is not arousing. This is consistent with Trumbo and Gaillard (1975) but it contradicts predictions derived from a theory by Broadbent (1971).     

A non-parametric test of correlation using rank orders within subgroups

Kendall's rank order test for association between two variables is generalized to the case where the total sample is made up of several subgroups and the data on one or both variables consist of the rank order within each subgroup. The test involves no assumptions concerning scales of measurement, shapes of distributions, or relative level of excellence or amount of variability of the different subgroups. Two empirical examples indicate that the normal approximation to the exact test of significance can be considered adequate for most practical situations. Special consideration is given to the case of tied ranks. If ties occur in but one variable within any given subgroup, only a slight modification in procedure is needed. Extensive ties in both variables within subgroups lead to difficulties in determining the appropriate correction for continuity.