Strategy execution in cognitive skill learning: an item-level test of candidate models

This article investigates the transition to memory-based performance that commonly occurs with practice on tasks that initially require use of a multistep algorithm. In an alphabet arithmetic task, item response times exhibited pronounced step-function decreases after moderate practice that were uniquely predicted by T. C. Rickard's (1997) component power laws model. The results challenge parallel strategy execution models as developed to date and they demonstrate that the shift to retrieval is an item-specific, as opposed to task-general, learning phenomenon. The results also call into question the entire class of smooth speed-up functions as global empirical learning laws. It is shown that overlaying of averaged item fits on averaged data can provide a sensitive test for model sufficiency. Strategy probes agreed with strategy inferences that were based on step-function speed-up patterns, supporting the validity of the probing technique.     

Implementing communication between Windows PCs and test equipment using RS-232 and Borland C+ + Builder

Modern experiments in the behavioral sciences frequently employ several items of electronic equipment such as computers, monitoring devices, stimulus presentation equipment, and response collection systems. In many cases it would be advantageous for these items to communicate directly with each other. Such communication may facilitate greater automation of experiments (i.e., reduced experimenter influences during the experiment), more precise experiment control (i.e., superior timing and synchronization capabilities of electronic devices), and greater accuracy of data collection (i.e., reduced ambiguity of participant responses). Many electronic experiment devices already provide external interfacesthrough which communication with other devices can be implemented. The most common is based on the RS-232 protocol, which is also found in all standard PCs. Therefore, Microsoft Windows based computers can be programmed to control experiments by communicating directly with electronic experiment devices. We show how to implement this RS-232 interconnection between devices and a Windows PC using currently available software tools.     

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire: Multiple factors or method effects?

The latent structure of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) was evaluated with confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) in 1200 outpatients with DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders. Of particular interest was the comparative fit and interpretability of a two-factor solution (cf. Behaviour Research and Therapy 40 (2002) 313) vs. a one-factor model that specified method effects arising from five reverse-worded items. Consistent with prediction, the superiority of the one-factor model was demonstrated in split-sample CFA replications (ns=600). Multiple-group CFAs indicated that the measurement properties of the PSWQ were invariant in male and female patients. In addition to their direct relevance to the psychometrics of the PSWQ, the results are discussed in regard to methodological considerations for using factor analytic methods in the evaluation of psychological tests.     

Active-imaginal exposure: examination of a new behavioral treatment for cynophobia (dog phobia)

The aims of this study were to investigate exposure-based treatments for cynophobia (dog phobia) and to test a newly developed hybrid imaginal exposure treatment that we have named active imaginal exposure. The treatment introduces an in vivo coping component to imaginal exposure whereby the patient physically performs coping responses to an imagined feared stimulus. Eighty-two participants meeting DSM-IV criteria for specific phobia (animal subtype) were randomly assigned to one of three 30-min. treatments: (a) active-imaginal exposure (AI), (b) imaginal exposure alone (IE), or (c) graduated in vivo exposure (IV). Participants completed a behavioral approach test at pre, post, and four-week follow-up. Significant pre- to posttreatment improvement was observed in all three treatment conditions. Response rates at posttreatment were 51.9, 62.1, and 73.1% for the IE, AI, and IV groups respectively. Likewise, effect sizes at posttreatment were 0.76, 1.41, and 1.55 for the IE, AI, and IV groups respectively. Although in the predicted direction, the between group differences were not significant. A similar pattern of results was observed at follow-up. Further, safety behavior utilization during treatment was associated with less improvement--particularly in the two imaginal treatment conditions. Exposure treatments of dog phobia appear feasible and effective in reducing phobic fear and avoidance associated with dog phobia. Furthermore, preliminary evidence suggests that our active-imaginal exposure treatment may be a viable alternative to in vivo exposure.     

Smoking withdrawal dynamics: II. Improved tests of withdrawal-relapse relations

In this article, the authors assessed whether continuously scaled symptom parameters derived from growth models (T. M. Piasecki et al., 2003) are linked to smoking at long-term follow-up by using data from a large-scale clinical trial (N = 893). Results revealed that higher withdrawal intercepts, positive linear slopes, and greater volatility were all positively associated with relapse, and cigarette coefficients (indicating smoking-induced withdrawal reduction) were negatively related to relapse. In models keyed around the first lapse to smoking, those destined to lapse reported more severe withdrawal during abstinence, and withdrawal patterns discriminated groups defined according to lapse duration. The findings complement earlier heterogeneity studies in implicating the pattern of changing withdrawal symptoms over time as a factor strongly associated with smoking relapse.     

Religiousness and depression: evidence for a main effect and the moderating influence of stressful life events

The association between religiousness and depressive symptoms was examined with meta-analytic methods across 147 independent investigations (N = 98,975). Across all studies, the correlation between religiousness and depressive symptoms was -.096, indicating that greater religiousness is mildly associated with fewer symptoms. The results were not moderated by gender, age, or ethnicity, but the religiousness-depression association was stronger in studies involving people who were undergoing stress due to recent life events. The results were also moderated by the type of measure of religiousness used in the study, with extrinsic religious orientation and negative religious coping (e.g., avoiding difficulties through religious activities, blaming God for difficulties) associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, the opposite direction of the overall findings.     

Locomotion,incidental learning,and the selection

In three experiments, we examined the effects of locomotion and incidental learning on the formation of spatial memories. Participants learned the locations of objects in a room and then made judgments of relative direction, using their memories (e.g., "Imagine you are standing at the clock, facing the jar. Point to the book"). The experiments manipulated the number of headings experienced, the amount of interaction with the objects, and whether the participants were informed that their memories of the layout would be tested. When participants were required to maintain a constant body orientation during learning (Experiment 1), they represented the layout in terms of a single reference direction parallel to that orientation. When they were allowed to move freely in the room (Experiment 2), they seemed to use two orthogonal reference axes aligned with the walls of the enclosing room. Extensive movement under incidental learning conditions (Experiment 3) yielded a mixture of these two encoding strategies across participants. There was no evidence that locomotion, interaction with objects, or incidental learning led to the formation of spatial memories that differed from those formed from static viewing.     

Laterality effects in perceived spatial location of hallucination-like voices

Aydin and colleagues reported a reversal of physiological 'right-ear advantage' in a group of right-handed patients with schizophrenia, using an auditory acuity test. In schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations may appear to be spatially located inside or outside the patient's head. Here we show, using virtual acoustic space techniques, that normal right-handed subjects have a right-ear advantage for correctly locating the 'source' of hallucination-like voices as from either inside or outside the head. We propose a model for understanding lateralised, external hallucinations in schizophrenia based upon reversal of normal cortical asymmetry for auditory spatial processing.     

Location, location, location: the misprediction of satisfaction in housing lotteries

People tend to overestimate the emotional consequences of future life events, exhibiting an impact bias. The authors replicated the impact bias in a real-life context in which undergraduates were randomly assigned to dormitories (or "houses"). Participants appeared to focus on the wrong factors when imagining their future happiness in the houses. They placed far greater weight on highly variable physical features than on less variable social features in predicting their future happiness in each house, despite accurately recognizing that social features were more important than physical features when asked explicitly about the determinants of happiness. In Experiment 2, we found that this discrepancy emerged in part because participants exhibited an isolation effect, focusing too much on factors that distinguished between houses and not enough on factors that varied only slightly, such as social features.