Imitation in shadowing words

Imitation of shadowed words was evaluated using Goldinger's (1998) AXB paradigm. The first experiment was a replication of Goldinger's experiments with different tokens. Experiment 1's AXB tests showed that shadowed words were judged to be better imitations of target words than were baseline (read) counterparts more often than chance (.50). Order of presentation of baseline and shadowed words in the AXB test also significantly influenced judgments. Degree of prior exposure to token words did not significantly influence judgments of imitation. Experiment 2 employed modified target tokens with extended voice onset times (VOTs). In addition to AXB tests, VOTs of response tokens were compared across baseline and shadowing conditions. The AXB tests revealed shadowed words to be better imitations of target tokens than baseline, without an influence of AXB presentation order. Differences between baseline and shadowing VOTs were greater when VOTs were extended. The implications of spontaneous imitation in nonsocial settings are considered.     

Assessment of Rorschach dependency measures in female inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder

The psychometric properties and predictive validity of the Dependency Index (DI; Hilsenroth & Bornstein, 2002) and the Rorschach Oral Dependency Scale (ROD; Masling, Rabie, & Blondheim, 1967) were examined to determine if these implicit measures of dependency predict observable attachment-seeking behavior in 66 female inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Results indicate that both scales produce excellent reliability estimates. The DI and ROD yield adequate base rates, and the distributions of scores approximate normal distributions. The DI was predictive of nursing staff observation of positive attachment/treatment compliance (r = .28, p = .02) but not excessive isolation. By contrast, the ROD predicted positive attachment/treatment compliance (r = .38, p = .002) and excessive isolation (r = -.35, p = .004). Texture responses predicted excessive isolation (r = -.25, p = .05). Discriminant validity was supported when neither dependency measure predicted hostile interactions or self-destructive behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the ROD demonstrated incremental validity over the DI and select Comprehensive System (Exner, 1993) variables associated with dependency.     

Plasticity of memory for new learning in very old age: a story of major loss?

Longitudinal survivors of the Berlin Aging Study (N = 96, mean age = 84 years, range 75-101 years) were instructed and trained in a mnemonic skill to examine plasticity of episodic memory performance in very old age. Performance gains after mnemonic instruction were modest, and most individuals were unable to further enhance their performance during 4 sessions of mnemonic practice. Whereas the proportion of variance explained by measures from the broad fluid-ability domain (e.g., perceptual speed) increased with training, the proportion of variance explained by crystallized-ability domain (e.g., word knowledge) and sociobiographical variables decreased. Furthermore, prior 6-year longitudinal changes (loss) in perceptual speed predicted individual differences in plasticity. Results suggest that aging-induced biological factors are a prominent source of individual differences in cognitive plasticity in very old age.     

“Perceptual centers” in speech production and perception

Morton, Marcus, and Frankish (1976) report that listeners hear acoustically isochronous digit sequences as anisochronous. Moreover, given a chance to adjust intervals in the sequences until they are perceptually isochronous, the listeners introduce systematic deviations from isochrony. The present series of studies investigates these phenomena further. They indicate that when asked toproduce isochronous sequences, talkers generate precisely the acoustic anisochronies that listeners require in order tohear a sequence as isochronous. The acoustic anisochronies that talkers produce are expected if talkers initiate the articulation of successive items in the sequence at temporally equidistant intervals. Items whose initial consonants differ in respect to manner class will have acoustic consequences (other than silence) at different lags with respect to their articulatory onsets thereby generating the observed acoustic anisochronies. The findings suggest that listeners judge isochrony based on acoustic information aboutarticulatory timing rather than on some articulation-free acoustic basis.     

Audiovisual investigation of the loudness-effort effect for speech and nonspeech events.

There is some evidence that loudness judgments of speech are more closely related to the degree of vocal effort induced in speech production than to the speech signal's surface-acoustic properties such as intensity. Other researchers have claimed that speech loudness can be rationalized simply by considering the acoustic complexity of the signal. Because vocal effort can be specified optically as well as acoustically, a study to test the effort-loudness hypothesis was conducted that used conflicting audiovisual presentations of a speaker that produced consonant-vowel syllables with different efforts. It was predicted that if loudness judgments are constrained by effort perception rather than by simple acoustic parameters, then judgments ought to be affected by visual as well as auditory information. It is shown that loudness judgments are affected significantly by visual information even when subjects are instructed to base their judgments only on what they hear. A similar (though less pronounced) patterning of results is shown for a nonspeech "clapping" event, which attests to the generality of the loudness-effort effect previously thought to be special to speech. Results are discussed in terms of auditory, fuzzy logical, motor, and ecological theories of speech perception.     

Ask me why,don't tell me why: Asking children for explanations facilitates relational thinking

Identifying abstract relations is essential for commonsense reasoning. Research suggests that even young children can infer relations such as “same” and “different,” but often fail to apply these concepts. Might the process of explaining facilitate the recognition and application of relational concepts? Based on prior work suggesting that explanation can be a powerful tool to promote abstract reasoning, we predicted that children would be more likely to discover and use an abstract relational rule when they were prompted to explain observations instantiating that rule, compared to when they received demonstration alone. Five- and 6-year-olds were given a modified Relational Match to Sample (RMTS) task, with repeated demonstrations of relational (same) matches by an adult. Half of the children were prompted to explain these matches; the other half reported the match they observed. Children who were prompted to explain showed immediate, stable success, while those only asked to report the outcome of the pedagogical demonstration did not. Findings provide evidence that explanation facilitates early abstraction over and above demonstration alone.     

Customer experience in coffee stores: A multidisciplinary Neuromarketing approach

Companies in the service retailing industry are constantly looking for strategies to provide a customer experience that improves brand perception and increases customer loyalty. This study provides a deeper understanding of customer experience in two coffee stores in Vietnam by providing a multidisciplinary approach, including a quantitative and a neuromarketing approach. Two-hundred participants participated in the study, combining mystery shopping visits with the Brand Association Reaction Time Test (BARTT). Results from the mystery shopping visits confirm the holistic concept of customer experience. Store atmosphere, employee service, drink quality, price, and previous visits significantly impact customer experience. Empirical results also confirm the impact of customer experience on loyalty. Furthermore, the BARTT analysis shows that in-store customer experience can influence customers' short-term brand perceptions. The national brand is associated with friendly, expensive, globalized, and unique, whereas the local brand revealed significant associations with clean, smells good, welcoming, and unique. From the mystery shopping results and the BARTT, we can infer that customer experience needs multi-methodological capturing of its multifaceted aspects. Our findings are relevant to researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and bolster customer experiences, justifying a multidisciplinary approach and the application of new insightful tools.     

Attributional style in psychosis--the role of affect and belief type

People holding persecutory beliefs have been hypothesised to show a self-serving attributional style, which functions to protect self-esteem Bentall, Corcoran, Howard, Blackwood, and Kinderman (2001). Experimental support for this has been mixed. Freeman et al. (1998) suggested depressed and grandiose subgroups of those with persecutory beliefs might explain events differently. In this study, 71 participants completed measures of delusional beliefs, depression and attributional style. We hypothesised that those with persecutory beliefs would form grandiose and depressed subgroups, and that a self-serving attributional style would characterise only the grandiose subgroup. Hypotheses were partially confirmed. Clear subgroups were evident and only those with both persecutory and grandiose beliefs showed an externalising attributional style for negative events. Depression, irrespective of co-occurring persecutory beliefs, was related to a reduced self-serving bias and an externalising attributional style for positive events. On their own, persecutory beliefs were not related to any particular attributional style. Depressed and grandiose subgroups of those with persecutory beliefs might account for some of the inconsistencies in the attribution literature. Even within a single symptom group, care should be taken in both research and therapy to consider individual symptom patterns.