Visual memory for agents and their actions

Humans spend a considerable amount of time remembering other individuals' actions. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the visual system stores information about the identities of agents and their actions. To address this, I used a change detection method where observers were asked to remember agents and the actions they performed. Results show that observers can maintain information about both 2-3 agents and 2-3 actions simultaneously. However, they are highly impaired for remembering which agent performed which action, indicating that agent and action information are retained separately in visual working memory. Further experiments show that agent and action information can be bound together when the visual input contains the appropriate cues. However, this binding process significantly reduces the total amount of information that can be retained. Together, these results show that (1) an additional, resource-demanding process is needed to integrate agent and action information stored in separate working memory stores, and (2) the extent to which these two types of information are bound into integrated units depends largely on the presence of specific cues in the visual input.     

The Relationship Between Therapist Characteristics and Decreased Medical Utilization: An Exploratory Study

This was an exploratory study examining the relationship between the therapist characteristics of age, experience, gender, and profession and the medical utilization of clients. Marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, and psychologists participated in the study along with 197 clients as identified by archival research methods. The results of logistic regression analysis suggested that psychotherapy in general, rather than professional training or therapist characteristics is responsible for reductions in healthcare utilization.     

Online data collection from video game players: methodological issues.

The paper outlines the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet to collect data concerning both online and offline gamers. Drawing from experience of a number of studies carried out online by the authors and by reviewing the available literature, the authors discuss the main issues concerning data collected from video game players. The paper examines a number of areas, including recruiting and utilizing participants, validity, suitable methods of data collection (i.e., questionnaire studies, online tests, participant observation, online interviews), and ethical issues. It is concluded that online research methods can be a useful way of examining the psychosocial aspects of video game playing.     

SELF- VERSUS OTHERS' RATINGS AS PREDICTORS OF ASSESSMENT CENTER RATINGS: VALIDATION EVIDENCE FOR 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK PROGRAMS

Although 360-degree feedback programs are rapidly increasing in popularity, few studies have examined how well ratings from these programs predict an independent criterion. This study had 2 main aims: First, to examine the validity of ratings from a 360-degree feedback program using assessment center ratings as an independent criterion and to determine which source (i.e., self, supervisor, peers, or subordinates) provided the most valid predictor of the criterion measure of competency. Second, to better understand the relationship between self-observer discrepancies and an independent criterion. The average of supervisor, peer, and subordinate ratings predicted performance on the assessment center, as did the supervisor ratings alone. The self-ratings were negatively and nonlinearly related to performance with some of those who gave themselves the highest ratings having the lowest performance on the assessment center. Supervisor ratings successfully discriminated between overestimators but were not as successful at discriminating underestimators, suggesting that more modest feedback recipients might be underrated by their supervisors. Peers overestimated performance for poor performers. Explanations of the results and the implications for the use of self-ratings in evaluations, the design of feedback reports, and the use of 360-degree feedback programs for involving and empowering staff are discussed.     

Evaluating the quality and impact of mediators for learning when using associative memory strategies

Recently, a series of studies has reported much greater recall for factual information when students were asked to generate elaborations in response to ‘why’ questions (elaborative interrogation) relative to studying provided elaborations. The two experiments reported here extend and clarify research regarding the strategic benefits of generating elaborations versus providing elaborations. In both experiments, undergraduates studied 30 sentences, all of which described one particular man doing one activity. Students used one of three study strategies. In two conditions, students studied provided elaborations (PE). Half of the elaborations explained why the particular man engaged in the particular activity and half did not explain the specific relations. In the remaining condition, students generated their own elaborations. In both experiments, students were provided with their generated/provided elaborations as cues for recalling the fact at testing. When students were not explicitly cued to use the generated/ provided elaboration at recall, elaborative interrogation (EI) consistently outperformed the PE condition. Recall in the EI condition did not exceed recall in the PE condition, however, when students were provided with good explanatory elaborations and were cued with them at testing. These experiments demonstrate that the poorer performance associated with providing relative to generating elaborations can be mediated by encouraging more meaningful processing of materials and prompting students to access their mediators at recall.     

Effects of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake on frequency and content of nightmares.

In a systematic evaluation of the effects of a natural disaster on nightmares, nightmare frequency was found to be about twice as high among 92 San Francisco Bay area college students as among 97 control subjects in Tucson, Arizona, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Subjects in California had not only more nightmares in general but substantially more nightmares about earthquakes. Over a 3-week period, about 40% of those in the San Francisco Bay area reported one or more nightmares about an earthquake, as compared with only 5% of those in Arizona. However, nightmares about earthquakes were not more emotionally intense than other nightmares. These findings support the long-held view that the experience of a potentially traumatic event can result in more frequent nightmares, particularly about the event itself, but contradict the common opinion that nightmares about such events are unusually intense.