Metameric Whiteness and Absence of Causal Factors

Olaf Müller presents a supposedly empirically equivalent theory to Newtonian optics, which in his view is therefore threatened by underdetermination. This threat could even be expanded to modern physics, since this branch of physics is partly based on Newton’s theory. In this paper, I will show that Müller’s alternative theory contains an ill-defined concept, viz. the definition of whiteness as the absence of optical causal factors. This results from a fundamental property of whiteness: for every source of white light there exist metameric sources. I further argue that this cannot be reconciled by borrowing other concepts from modern physics, as is, I will show, tacitly presupposed in Müller’s argument. As a consequence, his alternative theory is not empirically equivalent to Newtonian optics and his argument in favour of underdetermination fails.     

Intrusive and avoidant ideation among females pursuing infertility treatment

Abstract

It was shown that infertility and its treatment constitute a stressful experience for women, reflected particularly in disturbing intrusive ideation about the stress source. Infertility patients reported levels of intrusive ideation significantly higher than routine gynecologic patients and not significantly different from levels of psychiatric outpatients being treated for stress reactions to traumatic events. Intrusive ideation also predicted the degree of self-reported infertility-specific distress and dysfunction, further clarifying the key role of such ideation in the experience. Finally, as hypothesized, the frustration level of the treatment experience (as indexed by the number of infertility treatment methods attempted) predicted avoidant ideation. Implications for managing the psychological distress and disruption associated with the infertility treatment experience were discussed.     

The impact of alcohol intoxication on witness suggestibility immediately and after a delay

Intoxicated witnesses are common, making it important to understand alcohol's impact on witness accuracy and suggestibility. Participants assigned to an immediate retrieval condition encoded and recalled in one of the three intoxication conditions: sober control, placebo, or intoxicated. Participants in the delayed retrieval condition were assigned to encode in one of the three intoxication conditions, returned a week later, and were assigned to retrieve in one of the three intoxication conditions. Intoxication condition at encoding was fully crossed with intoxication condition at retrieval in the delayed condition. Participants encoded a mock crime video and retrieved via a forced‐choice test, with answers already circled (purportedly by a prior participant); half of the precircled responses were incorrect. When recalling after a delay only, intoxication at encoding increased agreement with incorrect suggested answers and decreased accuracy. Results suggest intoxicated witnesses may benefit from being interviewed immediately rather than after a sobering delay.     

Psychometric properties of the Self-Perception Profile for Children in a biracial cohort of adolescent girls: the NHLBI Growth and Health Study

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study (NGHS) is an epidemiologic study of 1,213 Black and 1,166 White girls (ages 9-10) of risk factors for obesity. NGHS used Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) to measure domain-specific competence and overall self-worth. This report reviews the psychometric properties of the SPPC in this biracial cohort at baseline and Year 3 visits (ages 11-12). Simple structure yielding unique components for each of the SPPC domains was obtained for White but not Black girls, whether analyzed overall or by parental education level. Internal consistency was higher for White girls in both years. The lack of simple structure was reflected in the higher correlations among the subscales for Black girls. The structure and internal consistency improved in Year 3 for Black girls, indicating that the physical appearance and athletic competence domains were not yet fully differentiated at baseline. Readers should be cautious, however, when interpreting the SPPC in young Black girls.     

Cue set size effects: Sampling activated associates or cross-target interference?

Previous findings indicate that test cues linked to more associates (more knowledge) produce lower levels of recall than cues with fewer associates. One hypothesis attributes this effect to cross-target interference arising during retrieval on the assumption that cues with more associates are more likely to be indirectly connected to studied words other than the target. Another attributes the effect to sampling associates of the cue on the assumption that the probability of sampling the target declines as more associates are activated. Findings from four experiments showed that recall varied with cue set size, and, more importantly, that cue set size affected recall independently of the interference produced by cross-target connections. These results were interpreted as supporting a model that attributes cue set size effects to sampling processes associated with the intersection of the test cue and its associates with the target and its associates.     

Sex differences in elaborative strategies: a developmental analysis.

The present study examined sex differences in the use of elaboration in paired associate learning in adolescence and young adulthood. In Experiment 1, 48 eighth grade and 48 tenth grade students were asked to recall 24 word pairs, half of which were high frequency pairs, and half low frequency pairs. After recall, students reported the type of strategy used for each word pair (reading the pairs carefully, rehearsing the words, using imagery or constructing a verbal connection). Females used elaborative strategies more often, were more likely to recall elaborated pairs, and recalled more word pairs than males at both ages. These effects were observed in both high and low frequency word pairs. There was also a main effect of frequency, with elaboration more common with high frequency word pairs. In Experiment 2, college students performed the same paired-associates learning task, but with the added instruction to describe their elaborations in a sentence. At this age, there was a sex by materials interaction, with sex differences in strategy use only present with low frequency word pairs. These findings indicate that sex differences diminish under more favorable task conditions that encourage strategy use (high frequency word pairs) as males and females become more proficient strategy users, but remain under less favorable circumstances. An examination of the types of elaborations generated by college students indicated although males and females produced similar types of elaborations to the word pairs, sex differences in the recallability of low frequency words appeared with less interactive and more idiosyncratic elaborations.     

The role of commitment in producing misinformation effects in eyewitness memory

We conducted three experiments exploring conditions in which misleading postevent information interferes with people’s ability to remember details about an event they witnessed. The key condition included in each experiment was the misled-plus-commit condition. After viewing slides depicting a crime, subjects in this condition read a narrative that contained misinformation. Following the narrative, they completed an interpolated recognition test that induced them to select the misinformation. Assessment of memory for the slides using a final, modified recognition test indicated that performance in the misled-plus-commit condition was most frequently near chance, whereas performance in the control condition was far above chance. This result was obtained on four separate occasions and indicates that prior retrieval of misinformation impairs memory. Another important finding was that the deleterious effect of passively reading about misinformation in a narrative is not as great as the effect of reading about it and then selecting it on an interpolated test. Actively retrieving misinformation seems to cause particularly deleterious effects. Our conclusion is that the findings are compatible with the retrieval blocking hypothesis, which assumes that repeated retrieval of misinformation blocks access to the witnessed information.     

Being a good witness: The roles of benevolence and working memory capacity in rapport’s effect on eyewitness memory

Prior studies suggest that building rapport with eyewitnesses can produce measurable recall improvements, but the underlying mechanisms of rapport’s possible effects on recall remain underexplored. The present study investigated two possible mechanisms for rapport’s impact: (1) improved working memory capacity and (2) increased benevolence. Participants (N = 105) viewed a mock theft video, followed by one of two possible pre-interview interactions: rapport-building or a control interaction. Next, participants completed measures of working memory, altruism, and benevolence (pre-interview and post-interview), before recalling details of the theft. Analyses revealed that, when controlling for the effects of the interaction duration and participants’ pre- and post-interview benevolence, rapport did not affect eyewitness recall directly. However, rapport building did increase benevolence measured after and associated with the substantive eyewitness interview, which in turn predicted more accurate and new details reported, and fewer subjective/other details reported. These findings support benevolence toward the interviewer as a mechanism behind rapport’s effect on eyewitness recall. Implications for investigative interviews in relation to benevolence and motivating reciprocation are discussed.     

Self‐Reported Current Practices in Child Forensic Interviewing: Training,Tools, and Pre‐Interview Preparation

In child sexual abuse investigations, forensic interviewers within the Child Advocacy Center (CAC) model serve as neutral fact‐finders for a team of professionals tasked with investigating and intervening in cases of alleged child sexual abuse. Although empirical evidence has led to the development of best‐practice techniques and protocols, there is currently no universally adopted protocol in the field. The present research gathered detailed information from a national sample of real‐world child forensic interviewers about their training and current practices, with a specific focus on assessing the information interviewers typically review prior to conducting child forensic interviews. Most notably, the survey revealed a lack of uniformity in interviewing protocols adopted and pre‐interview preparation practices. Although rare, some interviewers reported using an allegation‐blind interviewing approach, highlighting the need for future research on this and other under‐studied techniques. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.