Effect of expertise acquisition on strategic perception: the example of chess

The two experiments presented here study perceptual processes implemented by chess players in situations related to their domain of expertise. The aim was to determine how patterns are perceived as a function of their strategic value when players acquire expertise. In this study, conducted on novice and more experienced players, it is hypothesized that with acquisition of expertise players would quickly encode familiar patterns and then rapidly focus their attention on patterns with a higher immediate strategic value. In Experiment 1, participants had to carry out a change-detection task that used the "flicker paradigm". The results showed that during the perception of standard chess positions, experienced players--but not novices--quickly focused their attention on the most strategic patterns. In Experiment 2, experienced players and novices carried out a recognition task after having encoded chess positions for 1 or 5 s. The results indicated early encoding of familiar patterns without immediate strategic value, followed by the encoding of more strategic patterns. Taken together, the results of these two experiments are consistent with the results by both de Groot and Gobet (1996) and McGregor and Howes (2002) about the strategic content of Chase and Simon's chunks (Chase & Simon, 1973b).     

Gender differences in German consumer decision‐making styles

Males and females want different products and they are likely to have different ways of thinking about obtaining these. This study furthers an understanding of how gender affects consumers' approaches to decision making. The research used Sproles and Kendall's (1986) consumer styles inventory (CSI) on a sample of 358 German males and females. Although all seven German decision‐making characteristics found in a previous German study could be confirmed for females, only four could be confirmed for males, raising the question of whether the CSI is equally valid for both genders. Tentative support was found for five new male factors, namely satisfying, enjoyment‐variety seeking, fashion‐sale seeking, time restricted and economy seeking. The results imply that the CSI has construct validity for females, but appears to be less valid for males. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Making Group Brainstorming More Effective: Recommendations From an Associative Memory Perspective

Much literature on group brainstorming has found it to be less effective than individual brainstorming. However, a cognitive perspective suggests that group brainstorming could be an effective technique for generating creative ideas. Computer simulations of an associative memory model of idea generation in groups suggest that groups have the potential to generate ideas that individuals brainstorming alone are less likely to generate. Exchanging ideas by means of writing or computers, alternating solitary and group brainstorming, and using heterogeneous groups appear to be useful approaches for enhancing group brainstorming.     

Induced Cross-Modal Synaesthetic Experience Without Abnormal Neuronal Connections

ABSTRACT— Are the kinds of abnormal cross-modal interactions seen in synaesthesia or following brain damage due to hyperconnectivity between or within brain areas, or are they a result of lack of inhibition? This question is highly contested. Here we show that posthypnotic suggestion induces abnormal cross-modal experience similar to that observed in congenital grapheme-color synaesthesia. Given the short time frame of the experiment, it is unlikely that new cortical connections were established, so we conclude that synaesthesia can result from disinhibition between brain areas.     

Measurement Equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist among Parents of African American Adolescents

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/6-18) is a widely used parent-report measure of youth internalizing and externalizing problems. Accumulating evidence, however, suggests that the CBCL may not adequately assess clinical problems in diverse populations. We investigated the measurement equivalence (ME) of the CBCL in an African American adolescent sample (N = 145). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated poor factor model fit; however, modification indices and an alternative two-factor model produced improved fit statistics. Internal consistency coefficients of CBCL scales ranged from α = .65 to .88 and were generally lower than those reported for the normative sample. The CBCL exhibited convergent validity with conceptually similar scales on the Parent Report Scale of the Behavior Assessment System for Children; however, the correlations were weaker than those reported for the normative sample. The CBCL Internalizing composite failed to predict clinician-rated Emotional problems, however, the Externalizing composite predicted clinician-rated behavior problems. In summary, the CBCL did not exhibit unequivocal evidence of ME, as it both possesses and lacks a number of statistical attributes that would demonstrate its equivalence with African Americans. Future empirical and theoretical work is discussed.     

Barely legal: Is attraction and estimated age of young female faces disrupted by alcohol use,make up,and the sex of the observer?

One ‘reasonable ground’ for unlawful sex with a minor is mistaken age. Alcohol consumption and make‐up are often deemed further influences on impaired perception. Two hundred and forty persons in bars and cafes rated the attractiveness of composite faces of immature and mature females with and without additional make‐up, alcohol users having their concurrent blood–alcohol level measured using a breathalyser. A non‐sex‐specific preference for immature faces over sexually mature faces was found. Alcohol and make‐up did not inflate attractiveness ratings in immature faces. While alcohol consumption significantly inflated attractiveness ratings for participants viewing made‐up sexually mature faces, greater alcohol consumption itself did not lead to overestimation of age. Although alcohol limited the processing of maturity cues in female observers, it had no effect on the age perceptions of males viewing female faces, suggesting male mate preferences are not easily disrupted. Participants consistently overestimated the age of sexually immature‐ and sexually mature‐faces by an average of 3.5 years. Our study suggests that even heavy alcohol consumption does not interfere with age‐perception tasks in men, so is not of itself an excuse for apparent mistaken age in cases of unlawful sex with a minor.     

Near space functioning of the human angular and supramarginal gyri

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) has been associated with the encoding of events in peripersonal space, but little is known about the precise segregation of parietal areas involved specifically in ‘near‐space’ visuospatial processing. This study applied transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to two parietal areas: the right angular gyrus (ANG) and the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) in addition to a control site, cortical visual area V5, while subjects performed symmetry judgements on lines presented simultaneously in the left and right visual fields. Eight subjects performed the task with the stimuli presented either in peripersonal or extra personal space. As expected, TMS over the right ANG caused subjects to report lines as being longer ipsilateral to the stimulation site, but only in near space. TMS of the right SMG, however, induced a bias shift in both near and far space, but the change only reached significance in near space. Our findings suggest that, consistent with its role in somatosensory functions, the SMG, like the ANG, is specialised for near space.