Coding strategies,perceptual grouping,and the “variability effect” in free recall

Three experiments examined the effects of constant vs. varied input of letter strings on recall, and then examined the effects of such training in the learning of new lists of letter strings. Letter strings were constructed from pairs of trigrams spatially grouped, and were presented either consistently or with different spatial groupings on successive presentations. In Experiments I and II, varied input produced substantially greater recall than constant input. When transferred to a new list of letter strings, containing either the same general structure or a new scrambled structure, recall of the second list was determined primarily by conditions of first-list input, and unaffected by second-list structure. Although the "variability effect" did not appear in the training phase of Experiment III, Varied input led subjects to regroup or integrate the letter sequences more frequently and produced similar transfer effects as in Experiments I and II.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE INTEGRAL NATURE OF THE SOVIET CONCEPT OF SET

Cette recherche se propose d'étudier le caractère intégral de la notion de “set” telle qu'elle est décrite dans la théorie d'Uznadze. Deux concepts de base sont définis opérationnellement: l'objectification, qui se révèle dans le langage parlé et l'écriture, et la personnalité, qui peut être observée au moyen de tests appropriés. Cent quatre-vingt-six sujets d'un âge moyen de 21 ans ont participé à cette étude. Les mesures des traits de personnalité ont été obtenues par le EPI (Eysenck Personality Inventory) et le MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). Le langage a été analysé à travers les dissertations écrites par chaque sujet. Les mesures de personnalité, de langage et de “set” ont été soumises à une analyse factorielle qui a permis d'extraire huit facteurs interprétables. Les résultats n'apportent qu'un soutien réduit à la thèse d'Uznadze concernant la nature intégrale de la notion de “set”.     

The effects of instructions,fixed rate of presentation,and complexity on free looking time

The effect of stimulus complexity, prior experience with a short or long fixed rate of presentation (FRP) and S’s knowledge concerning the purpose ot the experiment on free looking time (FLT), was examined. Results indicated that under all conditions, Ss view complex stimuli longer than simple. A long FRP produced longer FLT than did a short FRP for Ss uninformed of the purpose of the experiment, hut FRP had no effect on FLT for Ss who were informed.     

A decentralized computer network for supervision of multiple psychological laboratories

The computer network described was designed to optimize the use of a number of independent minicomputers as a single integrated system for process control of several research laboratories. The implementation of the network required both the development of a special purpose interprocessor interface and the design of a software support system to direct network operations. The network was designed according to the familiar “star” configuration, with the exception that the central computer in the star does not exercise exclusive supervisory control over the system. Rather, each computer on the system “sees” the central computer as a peripheral similar in characteristics to a medium speed I/O device. This design allows each computer to serve not only as a node in the network, but also as an entirely independent process controller.     

Note on Carroll's analytic simple structure

A method for computing the transformation matrix for Carroll's analytic simple structure (1) is presented. The procedure involves successively finding the smallest latent root and associated vector of symmetric matrices.     

Family Environments and Children's Executive Function: The Mediating Role of Children's Affective State and Stress

There is increasing evidence that inadequate family environments (family material environment and family psychosocial environment) are not only social problems but also factors contributing to adverse neurocognitive outcomes. In the present study, the authors investigated the relationship among family environments, children's naturalistic affective state, self-reported stress, and executive functions in a sample of 157 Chinese families. These findings revealed that in inadequate family material environments, reduced children's cognitive flexibility is associated with increased naturalistic negative affectivity and self-reported stress. In addition, naturalistic negative affectivity mediated the association between family expressiveness and children's cognitive flexibility. The authors used a structural equation model to examine the mediation model hypothesis, and the results confirmed the mediating roles of naturalistic negative affectivity and self-reported stress between family environments and the cognitive flexibility of Chinese children. These findings indicate the importance of reducing stress and negative emotional state for improving cognitive functions in children of low socioeconomic status.