The effects of delay and interference: A speed-accuracy study

This paper examines the effect of (1) delay between learning and test and (2) associative interference on memory retrieval speed. The speed-accuracy tradeoff methodology, which interrupts the retrieval process at various times (0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 sec) after presentation of the test item, provides a means of separating retrieval speed effects from effects on overall memory strength. Performance at short processing times is an index of retrieval speed. Performance given ample processing time is a measure of asymptotic accuracy, or memory strength. Increasing the delay between learning and test or introduction of interference relations lowered memory trace strength, as reflected in asymptotic accuracy. Items tested shortly (about 3 sec) after learning showed a significant speedup in retrieval relative to items tested at a longer (several minute) delay. Further analysis suggested that the delay effect on retrieval was primarily the result of immediate repetition, or testing of the last-learned item. The interference manipulation showed a slight and nonsignificant tendency toward slowing of memory retrieval. The implications of these results for various models of retrieval are explored via simulations. The results of all the simulations suggested a direct-access retrieval process where associations are processed largely in parallel. Contradiction or mismatch information in recognizing new items was important because it provided an explanation for a slight slowing in retrieval due to interference even with a parallel-processing assumption. Faster retrieval for the last-learned item may be the result of residual activation following active processing.     

Distortions in memory for maps

Evidence is presented for systematic errors in memory for real and artificial maps, local environments, and visual forms. These errors are attributed to two heuristics that are derived from principles of perceptual organization. Maps of countries or localities are conceived of as figures in backgrounds. Remembering the absolute location of figures is difficult, and is facilitated by remembering locations relative to other figures and/or relative to the natural directions of the figure. In alignment, figures are lined up relative to one another, a phenomenon related to perceptual grouping by proximity. In rotation, the natural axes induced by a figure converge with frame axes (north-south, east-west, or horizontal, vertical), a phenomenon related to perceptual organization by common fate. Heuristic-induced errors occur in a variety of tasks, and even when subjects are explicitly forewarned. These heuristics may be invoked in forming representations as well as in inference, and function analogously to syntax in locating smaller elements in larger units.     

Multiple sessions of systolic blood pressure biofeedback: Its effects on ability to control systolic pressure during training,after training,and its effects on pulse rate

Seventy-one normotensive subjects participated in four training sessions in which they were either (a) instructed to increase their blood pressure, (b) instructed to decrease their blood pressure, or (c) not instructed to change their blood pressure. The subjects either (a) were provided with biofeedback concerning systolic blood pressure or (b) were not provided with biofeedback concerning systolic blood pressure. After the last training session, subjects participated in a transfer session in which they were again instructed concerning changes in pressure but were not provided with biofeedback. Analyses conducted on data from the training and transfer sessions indicated that subjects who were instructed to increase pressure and given biofeedback to aid them showed higher pressure than subjects in other conditions and that there were no differences among those other conditions; that is, biofeedback was effective for teaching subjects to increase pressure but was not effective for teaching subjects to decrease pressure. Additional training sessions did not add to the effect achieved in the first training session. During training sessions, subjects who were instructed to increase pressure showed higher heart rates than subjects in other conditions. The results raise questions concerning the interpretation of earlier experiments that did not include no-treatment, instructions-only, and attention control conditions.     

Reaction time for voiced and whispered /a/ in stutterers and nonstutterers

Recent research reviewed in this article suggests that stutterers' inability to initiate phonation promptly could be a significant factor in the occurence of stuttering. Since stuttering is either completely absent or markedly reduced in frequency during whisper, the present study tested the hypothesis that stutterers do not significantly differ from nonstutterers in reaction time (RT) for the initiation of whispered/a/, whereas the two groups differ significantly in RT for the initiation of voiced /a/. Ten adult stutterers and an equal number of comparable nonstutterers produced prolonged versions of the vowel /a/ using voice and whisper in response to tone stimuli. The results showed that stutteres and nonstutterers did not differ in RT for either voiced or whispered /a/. The stutterers, however, exhibited significantly longer RT to produce voiced /a/ than whispered /a/.     

Attribution bias: On the inconclusiveness of the cognition-motivation debate

Social psychologists have given considerable theoretical and research attention to whether motivational variables bias the attributions people make for behavior. Some theorists maintain that motivational constructs must be invoked to explain certain attributional phenomena; other theorists maintain that information-processing variables can adequately explain these phenomena. The present article critically examines existing cognitive and motivational approaches to attribution and analyzes the assumptions underlying the cognition-motivation debate. We argue that cognitive and motivational theories are currently empirically indistinguishable. In particular, its is possible to construct information-processing explanations for virtually all evidence for motivated bias. We conclude by examining the implications of this indeterminacy of cognitive and motivational explanations. Future research in the area can most profitably be addressed to improving the specificity of cognitive and motivational theories rather than to resolving the between-theory confrontation.     

Fear of success,sex role attitudes,and career salience and anxiety levels of college women

This study examined, for 99 female undergraduate students, both the relationship between fear of success, sex role attitudes, and career salience, and the relationship between fear of success, career salience, and trait anxiety. Fear of success was assessed using the Fear of Success Scale, while sex role attitudes were assessed using the Attitudes towards Women Scale. Career Salience was measured by the Career Salience Scale, and trait anxiety was assessed by the trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The results indicated that fear of success and sex-role attitudes, in combination, significantly predicted the level of career salience in a multiple regression analysis. The women higher in fear of success and more traditional tended to be lower in career salience. Trait anxiety levels of women did not differ significantly as a function of fear of success, career salience, or the combination of the two.