Implications of mental image processing in the deficits of verbal information coding during normal aging]

Our study specifies the contributions of image generation and image maintenance processes occurring at the time of imaginal coding of verbal information in memory during normal aging. The memory capacities of 19 young adults (average age of 24 years) and 19 older adults (average age of 75 years) were assessed using recall tasks according to the imagery value of the stimuli to learn. The mental visual imagery capacities are assessed using tasks of image generation and temporary storage of mental imagery. The variance analysis indicates a more important decrease with age of the concretness effect. The major contribution of our study rests on the fact that the decline with age of dual coding of verbal information in memory would result primarily from the decline of image maintenance capacities and from a slowdown in image generation.     

Blonde like me: When self-construals moderate stereotype priming effects on intellectual performance

Stereotype priming can lead to assimilation or contrast effects on behavior. We argue that self-activation is a moderator of both assimilation and contrast effects. To test this hypothesis, in two studies, we activated independent or interdependent self-knowledge before priming participants with the dumb Blonde stereotype or a control category (Study 1) or no prime (Study 2). Participants then answered a knowledge test. Results support our expectations: Participants presented assimilation under interdependence (i.e., underperformance compared to control group) while they presented no assimilation (i.e., comparable performance with control group in Study 1) and contrast (better performance than control group in Study 2) under independence. We discuss implications of these findings in regards of previous research and recent models such as the Active Self Account [Wheeler, S. C., DeMarree, K. G., & Petty, R. E. (2005). The roles of the self in priming-to-behavior effects. In A. Tesser, J. V. Wood, & D. A. Stapel (Eds.), On building, defending and regulating the self: A psychological perspective (pp. 245-271). New York, NY, USA: Psychology Press].     

Working memory and inhibitory control across the life span: Intrusion errors in the Reading Span Test

The aim of this study was to examine to what extent inhibitory control and working memory capacity are related across the life span. Intrusion errors committed by children and younger and older adults were investigated in two versions of the Reading Span Test. In Experiment 1, a mixed Reading Span Test with items of various list lengths was administered. Older adults and children recalled fewer correct words and produced more intrusions than did young adults. Also, age-related differences were found in the type of intrusions committed. In Experiment 2, an adaptive Reading Span Test was administered, in which the list length of items was adapted to each individual’s working memory capacity. Age groups differed neither on correct recall nor on the rate of intrusions, but they differed on the type of intrusions. Altogether, these findings indicate that the availability of attentional resources influences the efficiency of inhibition across the life span.     

Patterns of agonistic interactions in three species of macaque (Macaca mulatta,M fascicularis,M tonkeana)

Patterns of aggression and response to aggression were studied in three groups of macaques living in semiliberty, each group representing a different species: Macaca mulatta, M fascicularis, and M tonkeana. In Macaca mulatta, intensity of aggression is high (biting is frequent) and symmetry in aggression is low: the aggressee most often flees or submits. In Macaca tonkeana, in contrast, biting is exceptional, aggression is very often bidirectional, and appeasement behaviors are frequently observed. Intermediate patterns are found in Macaca fascicularis with, in addition, especially frequent mild forms of submission. It is argued that relationships exist between intensity of aggression, symmetry in aggression, and development of behaviors controlling aggresssion. Whether balances between these variables are species-specific is discussed.     

Searching-waiting strategy: a candidate for an evolutionary model of depression?

The model proposed here assumes that depressive disorders could reflect an extreme state of a current behavioral strategy. According to this model, a subject facing a problem of survival without apparent solution may choose between two behavioral patterns: searching for a solution or waiting for that solution to occur. This choice can be made after one or several estimations of the cost and benefit attached to each of these alternatives. Two of the main behavioral models of depression are interpreted according to this model: namely, infant response to maternal separation in monkeys and "behavioral despair" in rodents. Practical and theoretical consequences of this model are discussed.     

Linking indigenous knowledge systems and development: The potential uses of microcomputers

This article proposes a multidisciplinary alternative framework to the classical model of the diffusion of innovations, to analyze the potential uses of microcomputers for development. The emphasis on the indigenous knowledge systems translates a paradigm shift in the analysis of technology transfer. This shift requires the integration of the user’s knowledge as the condition of the adoption of the innovation. Expert systems based on indigenous knowledge can help make this shift possible if they are used to understand the cognitive processes of the indigenous knowledge, rather than to mimic their performance. where he has been a visiting scholar since October 1990. He has conducted research about the economics and sociology of agricultural production in China and Venezuela. Since 1990, his research focused on the uses of microcomputers for development, under contract for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. His interest for the microcomputer technology broadened in 1992 with a new research project on the social history of this technology in the U.S. This article is based on a lecture delivered at the Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development (CIKARD), Iowa State University, March 18, 1991.     

Implicit bicultural identity among Mexican American and Asian American college students

Contemporary research on ethnic identity, acculturation, and cultural orientation suggests that, at least under some circumstances, individuals can successfully internalize or identify with more than one culture. Previous research on multicultural identity has relied almost exclusively on self-report measures. Using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the present research examined to what extent Mexican American and Asian American college students identified with American culture and with their culture of origin. Results indicated that Mexican American and Asian American participants strongly and equally identified with both cultures. The present research provides firm evidence for a bicultural identity through assessments of thoughts that cannot be consciously controlled. Patterns of bicultural identification obtained on implicit measures were not the product of deliberate responses to normative demands or conscious attempts to convey a particular self-image.     

Influence of postural regulation in male judokas' direction of falls

In competitions, judokas tend to have a predominant direction of fall: forwards or backwards. A relationship was hypothesized between the direction of fall and certain parameters of the judokas' postural activities. 20 judokas, 16 to 19 yr. old (17.7 +/- 0.4 yr.), had practised judo for at least seven years. They were separated into two groups. The group of forward fallers (n = 9) and the group of backward fallers (n = 11) performed posturokinetic tests to assess their static and dynamic balance. One parameter assessed through the analysis of postural activities, the average position of anteroposterior dynamic oscillations, was inversely related to the judokas' direction of fall. Postural activities might not play a direct role but perhaps an indirect one in the direction of falls by expert judokas.     

Why does picture naming take longer than word reading? The contribution of articulatory processes

Since the 19th century, it has been known that response latencies are longer for naming pictures than for reading words aloud. While several interpretations have been proposed, a common general assumption is that this difference stems from cognitive word-selection processes and not from articulatory processes. Here we show that, contrary to this widely accepted view, articulatory processes are also affected by the task performed. To demonstrate this, we used a procedure that to our knowledge had never been used in research on language processing: response-latency fractionating. Along with vocal onsets, we recorded the electromyographic (EMG) activity of facial muscles while participants named pictures or read words aloud. On the basis of these measures, we were able to fractionate the verbal response latencies into two types of time intervals: premotor times (from stimulus presentation to EMG onset), mostly reflecting cognitive processes, and motor times (from EMG onset to vocal onset), related to motor execution processes. We showed that premotor and motor times are both longer in picture naming than in reading, although than in reading, although articulation is already initiated in the latter measure. Future studies based on this new approach should bring valuable clues for a better understanding of the relation between the cognitive and motor processes involved in speech production.     

Amplitude modulation of sexy phrases is salient for song attractiveness in female canaries (Serinus canaria)

Song discrimination and recognition in songbird species have usually been studied by measuring responses to song playbacks. In female canaries, Serinus canaria, copulation solicitation displays (CSDs) are used as an index of female preferences, which are related to song recognition. Despite the fact that many studies underline the role of song syntax in this species, we observed that short segments of songs (a few seconds long) are enough for females to discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific songs, whereas such a short duration is not sufficient to identify the syntax rules. This suggests that other cues are salient for song recognition. In this experiment, we investigated the influence of amplitude modulation (AM) on the responses (CSDs) of female canaries to song playbacks. We used two groups of females: (1) raised in acoustic isolation and (2) raised in normal conditions. When adult, we tested their preferences for sexy phrases with different AMs. We broadcast three types of stimuli: (1) songs with natural canary AM, (2) songs with AM removed, or (3) song with wren Troglodytes troglodytes AM. Results indicate that female canaries prefer and have predispositions for a song type with the natural canary AM. Thus, this acoustic parameter is a salient cue for song attractiveness.