Vocabulary learning in primary school children: Working memory and long-term memory components

The goal of this study was to investigate which working memory and long-term memory components predict vocabulary learning. We used a nonword learning paradigm in which 8- to 10-year-olds learned picture-nonword pairs. The nonwords varied in length (two vs. four syllables) and phonology (native sounding vs. including one Russian phoneme). Short, phonologically native nonwords were learned best, whereas learning long nonwords leveled off after a few presentation cycles. Linear structural equation analyses showed an influence of three constructs—phonological sensitivity, vocabulary knowledge, and central attentional resources (M capacity)—on nonword learning, but the extent of their contributions depended on specific characteristics of the nonwords to be learned. Phonological sensitivity predicted learning of all nonword types except short native nonwords, vocabulary predicted learning of only short native nonwords, and M capacity predicted learning of short nonwords but not long nonwords. The discussion considers three learning processes—effortful activation of phonological representations, lexical mediation, and passive associative learning—that use different cognitive resources and could be involved in learning different nonword types.     

Early alternative derivations of Fechner's law

Historians of psychology, notably Boring, fostered Fechner's idea that Weber's law is the indispensable basis for the derivation of the logarithmic psychophysical law. However, it is shown here that Bernoulli in 1738 and Thurstone in 1931 derived the logarithmic law using principles other than Weber's law and that Fechner and Thurstone based their derivations on the principles originally employed by Bernoulli. It is concluded that awareness of researchers about Bernoulli's and Thurstone's derivations could expand the directions of research on the form of the psychophysical law. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spontaneous imagined contact and intergroup relations: Quality matters

While research on experimental interventions that aim to improve outgroup attitudes via contact imagery grows, it is important to examine if contact imagery that occurs in spontaneous, non-experimentally controlled conditions drives attitudes, and in what direction. To answer this, we constructed and validated a spontaneous imagined intergroup contact scale (SIICS) that differentiates between frequency, quality and elaboration of the spontaneous imagery of outgroups. In three correlational studies (N_Portugal = 305, N_{United Kingdom} = 185, N_Italy = 276), we tested the role of spontaneous imagined contact frequency, quality and elaboration in predicting attitudes and social distance (Studies 1–3) and intended behaviour (Study 3) toward immigrant groups. Results demonstrated that spontaneous imagined contact quality consistently predicted key outcome variables above and beyond the other two dimensions. Importantly, the effects were significant while controlling for other potent forms of direct and indirect contact. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Attributions for social failure and adolescent aggression

In the present study, 119 high school boys and 79 institutionalized delinquent boys of the same age range were assessed on their own aggressive behavior and on their tendencies to attribute social failure to controllable, external, stable causes, anticipate a hostile affective response, and endorse aggressive behavioral responses to by pothetical social situations. While the two populations of boys did not differ detectably in their attributional tendencies, the relations between an individual's aggressiveness and an individual's attributions differed considerably across the two populations. In particular, among deliquent but not among delinquent but not among nondelinquent boys, the tendency to attribute one's social failures to stable and controllable causes predicted stronger hostile emotional responses to failure and a tendency to endorse physically aggressive responses following such failure. These hostile emotional responses to failure and this preference for a physically aggressive response, in turn, predicted greater actual aggression within the population of delinquent boys. Neither of these links could be demonstrated for nondelinquent boys. However, in the nondelinquent sample, attributing social failure to external and controllable causes predicted endorsement of aggressive responses only indirectly through increased hostile affect. It was concluded that the specific relations between cognitive and affective responses to social failure may be a contributing factor to the serious physical aggression displayed by some delinquents and to the less serious aggression of nondelinquents. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Identification of the possible origin of the body target that differentiates play fighting from serious fighting in syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)

Play fighting in the Syrian Golden hamster Mesocricetus auratus can be distinguished from serious fighting by the targets attacked in each case. In play fighting, the animals attack and defend the cheeks and cheek pouches, whereas in serious fighting they attack and defend the rump and lower flanks. Since play typically involves the use of behaviors borrowed from other functional contexts, this paper investigates the origin of the cheek target during play fighting. Comparison of resident-intruder serious fighting with awake and anesthetized intruders does not reveal the cheek to be an inhibited target for serious attack. Similarly, analysis of social investigation and allog-rooming, while revealing the ears to be important targets, do not show the cheeks to be targets in these behaviors. Sniffing, licking, and nibbling of the cheek area appear to occur mainly during sexual encounters by males. This area, seemingly a sexual target, may be the one utilized during play fighting.     

Dominance and age-related changes in the play fighting of intact and post-weaning castrated male rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The play fighting behaviour of male rats (Rattus norvegicus) castrated at weaning was compared to that of intact controls during the juvenile and post-pubertal phases of development. Following puberty, both the castrated and intact animals exhibited an age-related change in their play fighting; the frequency of initiating play fighting decreased and juvenile patterns of playful defense were replaced by more adult-like patterns. As these changes occurred even in the absence of the pubertal surge of gonadal hormones, they were more likely to result from the organizational effects of gonadal hormones in the perinatal period than the activational effects of these hormones at puberty. Although the castrated animals exhibited the age-related changes in behaviour, they did not exhibit the asymmetries in play associated with dominance relationships. As demonstrated in previous studies, in pairs of intact rats, the animal that attacks the most and uses more juvenile defenses during play fighting and weighs the least is typically the subordinate. In the castrates, asymmetries in weight and playful defense are not related to play frequency, indicating the absence of a dominance relationship. Although the characteristic changes in male play fighting at puberty are independent of the activational effects of gonadal hormones, dominance relationships and their associated changes in play fighting are dependent on these hormones. Therefore, in the perinatal period gonadal hormones most likely organize the age-related changes in play behaviour, whereas post-pubertally gonadal hormones activate dominance relationships and thus, indirectly modify play fighting by affecting dominance-associated assymetries in behaviour. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Models as signs: extending Kralemann and Lattman’s proposal on modeling models within Peirce’s theory of signs

Synthese - In recent decades, philosophers of science have devoted considerable efforts to understand what models represent. One popular position is that models represent fictional situations....     

Sex differences in brain volume are related to specific skills, not to general intelligence

It has been proposed that males would show higher mean scores than females in general intelligence (g) because (1) men have, on average, larger brains than women, and (2) brain volume correlates with g. Here we report a failure to support the conclusion derived from these premises. High resolution MRIs were acquired in a sample of one hundred healthy young participants for estimating total, gray, and white matter volumes. Participants also completed an intelligence battery - comprising tests measuring abstract, verbal, and spatial abilities - that allowed the extraction of g scores. Results showed consistent relations between sex differences in brain volumes and non-g spatial and verbal skills but not for g.     

The role of personality and intelligence in assortative mating

Assortative mating is the individuals' tendency to mate with those who are similar to them in some variables, at a higher rate than would be expected from random. This study aims to provide empirical evidence of assortative mating through the Big Five model of personality and two measures of intelligence using Spanish samples. The sample consisted of 244 Spanish couples. It was divided into two groups according to relationship time. The effect of age, educational level and socioeconomic status was controlled. The results showed strong assortative mating for intelligence and moderate for personality. The strongest correlations for Personality were found in Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness.     

Conceptual agreement theory

For some time now, psychological inquiry on reference has assumed that reference is achieved through causal links between words and entities (i.e., direct reference). In this view, meaning is not relevant for reference or co-reference. We argue that this view may be germane to concrete objects, but not to diffuse objects (that lack clear spatio-temporal limits, thus preventing the use of direct reference in interactions). Here, we propose that meaning is the relevant dimension when referring to diffuse entities, and introduce Conceptual Agreement Theory (CAT). CAT is a mathematized theory of meaning that specifies the conditions under which two individuals (or one individual at two points in time) will infer they share a diffuse referent. We present the theory, and use stereotype stability and public opinion as case studies to illustrate the theory’s use and scope.