Further experiments on movement masking

Voluntary attention to one of two static objects in the peripheral field of one eye makes this object more liable to masking by a moving object in the corresponding area of the field of the other eye (Experiment 1).

Positive after images (and probably negative after images) are subject to (binocular) movement masking (Experiment 2).

Movement masking can occur in the field of either eye, but with the displays so far tried the inhibitory influence of a moving object is less in the field of the eye to which it is shown than in the field of the other eye (Experiment 3).     

The Automaticity of Affect for Political Leaders, Groups, and Issues: An Experimental Test of the Hot Cognition Hypothesis

We report the results of three experimental tests of the "hot cognition" hypothesis, which posits that all sociopolitical concepts that have been evaluated in the past are affectively charged and that this affective charge is automatically activated within milliseconds on mere exposure to the concept, appreciably faster than conscious appraisal of the object.
We find support for the automaticity of affect toward political leaders, groups, and issues; specifically:

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  Most Ss show significantly faster reaction times to affectively congruent political concepts and significantly slower response times to affectively incongruent concepts;

       

Quantum dynamics of human decision-making

A quantum dynamic model of decision-making is presented, and it is compared with a previously established Markov model. Both the quantum and the Markov models are formulated as random walk decision processes, but the probabilistic principles differ between the two approaches. Quantum dynamics describe the evolution of complex valued probability amplitudes over time, whereas Markov models describe the evolution of real valued probabilities over time. Quantum dynamics generate interference effects, which are not possible with Markov models. An interference effect occurs when the probability of the union of two possible paths is smaller than each individual path alone. The choice probabilities and distribution of choice response time for the quantum model are derived, and the predictions are contrasted with the Markov model.     

Visual imagery and verbalization with simple tachistoscopic displays

Two experiments, designed to compare the perception and retention of tachisto-scopic displays of four block capital letters and four simple “nonsense” figures are described. The results show that the letters were much better remembered and suggest that this was mainly due to the ease with which they were verbalized. The nonsense figures usually gave rise either to rapidly fading “iconic” images, or to an unstable kind of mixed imagery which was difficult to describe or remember, but in which inadequate verbalization was often a source of error. Subsidiary experiments illustrate the importance, not only of verbalization, but also of symmetry and simplicity in remembering visual display.     

A note on the identifiability of parallel and serial processes

Due to the significant research effort devoted to discovering whether certain psychological processes are serial or parallel, it seems important to establish the degree to which such processes are identifiable and to investigate possible ways in which such knowledge can improve our experiments. General definitions of parallel and serial systems are given, followed by a qualitative summary of identifiability results obtained with special classes of exponential systems. Some of these results are applied to a current experimental paradigm, and possible     

Information available In brief tactile presentations

Two experiments investigated characteristics of Immediate recall for brief tactile stimuli applied to the 24 interjoint regions of the fingers of both hands (thumbs excluded) The obtained Immediate-memory span varied from 35 to 7,5 stimulus positions correct after correction for guessing, similar to the results In analogous visual studies, Properties of any hypothetical tactile short-term memory were studied by requiring subjects to report only a specified portion of the stimuli presented, and by varying the time of occurrence of the marker specifying which portion of the stimuli to report, In this partial-report condition, subjects had more stimulus information available at the time of reporting than their immediate memory spans indicated, provided that the stimulus marker occurred within 0.8 sec after stimulus termination, The data suggest that at least for the amount of training employed here, any tactile short-term memory has much less capacity than an analogous visual short-term memory.     

The Implications of Adolescents’ Academic Word Knowledge for Achievement and Instruction

The purpose of the current study was to determine relationships between orthographic and morphological awareness of academic words and achievement across content areas. Participants (n = 256), diverse seventh and eighth graders, took three word knowledge measures; two standardized achievement measures were used as outcomes. Orthographic awareness of academic words explained variance in achievement, beyond overall breadth of vocabulary knowledge, with significant changes in R² ranging from 0.02 to 0.08. Morphological awareness of academic words explained variance in achievement, beyond overall breadth of vocabulary knowledge, with significant changes in R² ranging from 0.06 to 0.16.