The auditory sensory memory trace decays rapidly in newborns

The present study investigated the temporal dynamics of auditory sensory memory in newborns as reflected by the mismatch negativity (MMN), a preattentive electric change-detection response. MMN was obtained from 24 full-term healthy newborns who were either awake or asleep (quiet or active sleep) during the experiments. Stimuli were 1,000 Hz tones (standards) that were occasionally replaced by 1,100 Hz tones (deviants). The constant stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was, in separate blocks, either 450, 800, or 1,500 ms. A prominent MMN was obtained at the 800 ms SOA in all three sleep or waking states, whereas no MMN occurred at 450 and 1,500 ms SOAs. In view of the fact that in adults MMN is elicited even with a 10s SOA, these results imply that the time span of auditory memory is considerably shorter in neonates than in adults and 8-12-year-old children.     

Flank transparency: the effects of gaps,line spacing,and apparent motion

We analyze the properties of a dynamic color-spreading display created by adding narrow colored flanks to rigidly moving black lines where these lines fall in the interior of a stationary virtual disk. This recently introduced display (Wollschl?ger et al, 2001 Perception 30 1423-1426) induces the perception of a colored transparent disk bounded by strong illusory contours. It provides a link between the classical neon-color-spreading effect and edge-induced color spreading as discussed by Pinna et al (2001 Vision Research 41 2669-2676). We performed three experiments to quantitatively study (i) the enhancing influence of apparent motion; (ii) the degrading effect of small spatial discontinuities (gaps) between lines and flanks; and (iii) the spatial extent of the color spreading. We interpret the results as due to varying degrees of objecthood of the dynamically specified disk: increased objecthood leads to increased surface visibility in both contour and color.     

Prognostic indicators for stuttering: the value of computer-based speech analysis

There are currently no known acoustic parameters by which stuttering children can be appraised in order to predict the further course of their speech disfluency. The present study investigates the usefulness of a computer-based speech analysis of fluent utterances. Correlations between acoustic variables, severity, and course of stuttering were sought in a prospective longitudinal study. This analyzed 57 preschool children at 6-month intervals over a period of 4.6 years. The acoustic analyses yielded no clearly distinguishing characteristics. There was, however, one subgroup consisting of children who were still disfluent at study end which showed more variable values at various measurement points for different parameters. Speech control seems to be different in children exhibiting chronic stuttering.     

Neuromagnetic evidence for the timing of lexical activation: an MEG component sensitive to phonotactic probability but not to neighborhood density

Evidence from electrophysiological measures such as ERPs (event-related potentials) and MEG (magnetoencephalography) suggest that the first evoked brain response component sensitive to stimulus properties affecting reaction times in word recognition tasks occurs at 300-400 ms. The present study used the stimulus manipulation of Vitevich and Luce (1999) to investigate whether the M350, an MEG response component peaking at 300-400 ms, reflects lexical or postlexical processing. Stimuli were simultaneously varied in phonotactic probability, which facilitates lexical activation, and in phonological neighborhood density, which inhibits the lexical decision process. The present results indicate that the M350 shows facilitation by phonotactic probability rather than inhibition by neighborhood density. Thus the M350 cannot be a postlexical component.     

The dimensionality of anticipated affective reactions to risky and certain decision outcomes

In three experiments, anticipated affective reactions to risky and certain decision outcomes were investigated. It was shown that the two affect dimensions, valence and activation, describe anticipated affective reactions. When combined in a nonlinear dimension ranging from elation to disappointment, the results were found to replicate previous research showing that anticipated affective reactions are influenced by both sign (loss or gain), magnitude, and probability of outcomes. Preference for the anticipated affective reactions was furthermore related to both affect dimensions.     

Relationship of laboratory and on-road tests for driving-school students and experienced drivers

There is a pressing need to evaluate driving ability without an actual driving test but no reliable, standardised procedure is available. This study investigated the resulting distortion performance evaluation for different driver groups in on-road tests due to driving skills and driving style. Two groups, 15 female driving school students and 25 experienced male drivers were examined using cognitive and psychomotor tests and standard personality questionnaires as well as an on-road driving test. The students made significantly fewer errors on the driving test than the experienced drivers. The former group's driving performance could be predicted by errors on the laboratory tests, along with personality factors, while experienced drivers' driving errors were best predicted by slowness on laboratory tests. This study suggests that, when a series of standard cognitive and psychomotor tests are considered, different measures may apply in predicting young people's ability to drive safely based on assessing driving ability of experienced drivers, assumed lowered due to distorted driving style.     

The effect of choice on intention-behavior consistency

Three studies were conducted with the aim of investigating whether choice of behavioral alternative increases intention-behavior consistency. In Study 1 undergraduates were asked to write and mail back an essay on a topic they either chose or were assigned. Demonstrating an effect of choice, significantly more subjects who chose an essay topic mailed back the essays. These subjects also rated their intention to write the essay as stronger, thus suggesting that the difference between choice and no choice is that the intention is self-generated. Supporting this interpretation, no differences in mail-back rates were observed in Studies 2 and 3 between a difficult and easy choice condition. Furthermore, an alternative hypothesis that choice induces implementation intentions did not receive support since independent effects were in Study 2 found of deciding when and where to write the essay and in Study 3 of making an outline of the essay.     

Do film cuts facilitate the perceptual and cognitive organization of activitiy sequences?

Film depictions of activities possess two kinds of structures--namely, the structural features of the depicted activities themselves and a formal structure defined by film cuts. The former structure is used by everyday observers for perceptually and cognitively unitizing the continuous flow of events into comprehensible entities. It seems conceivable that cuts can serve a similar unitizing purpose for film viewers. For each of two different activity sequences, two film versions were produced. Throughout each film version, cuts were placed either at breakpoints or at nonbreakpoints. In a 2 x 2 (activity sequence x film version) factorial design, 40 subjects segmented the film during viewing and recalled the film content after viewing in a detailed protocol. Segmentation behavior depended primarily on the occurrence of breakpoints and was largely unaffected by the occurrence of cuts. Cuts accompanying a breakpoint lead to more detailed recall protocols for these sections of the film.     

What friends are for! The use of routine standards in social comparison

Social comparisons are frequently used for self-evaluation. As a consequence, judges have to be efficient in each comparison step. Standard selection, however, is traditionally seen as an elaborate process in which judges deliberately select similar standards. We propose that often judges do not engage in such deliberate selection processes. Instead, they use routine standards--standards that have frequently been used for self-evaluation. Consistent with this assumption, Studies 1-3 demonstrate that student participants activate knowledge about their best friend--a likely routine standard--during self-evaluation. In Study 1, lexical decisions for the best friend's name are facilitated after self-evaluation. In Study 2, participants judge their best friend faster after evaluating themselves on the same dimension. In Study 3, this is even the case if the best friend is dissimilar and consequently undiagnostic. Finally, in Study 4, self-evaluations are primarily influenced by comparison information about an experimentally created routine standard.     

Screening for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: an evaluation of two self-report scales among crime victims

The validity of the Impact of Events Scale (IES) and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptom Scale, Self-Report version (PSS-SR) was examined among crime victims. Both instruments performed well as screeners for PTSD. For the IES, sensitivity ranged between .93 and 1.00; for the PSS-SR, sensitivity ranged between .80 and .90. Specificity for the IES ranged between .78 and .84 and for the PSS-SR ranged between .84 and .88. Some individual items from the 2 scales performed just as well as the total scales. The authors conclude that either of these short self-report instruments or their individual items are suitable as screeners for PTSD, specifically in settings where mental health professionals are unavailable. Cross-validation of these results is necessary because of the small sample size in this study.