Fit to last: Exploring the longevity of the survival processing effect

Mounting evidence indicates that processing items for their survival value produces superior recall compared to a number of other well-known memory-enhancing techniques, and that this mnemonic advantage remains up to 48 hours after encoding (Raymaekers et al., 2014 Raymaekers, L. H. C., Otgaar, H., &; Smeets, T. (2014). The longevity of adaptive memory: Evidence for the mnemonic advantages of survival processing 24 and 48 hours later. Memory, 22, 19–25. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2013.791321[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, little attention has been dedicated to the survival processing effect in location memory, which may represent a better test of adaptive memory than retrieval of verbal information. The current study aims to fill this gap by exploring the longevity of the survival processing effect with both word list (Experiment 1) and location-based (Experiment 2) stimuli. Participants rated target items using a single incidental encoding scenario, either Survival versus Pleasantness (word stimuli) or Survival versus Scavenger Hunt (location stimuli). They were then asked to complete a surprise recall task immediately after the ratings and a second recall task 96 hours later. The results demonstrated that, despite a general reduction in memory performance across time, the survival processing advantage was detected at both test times for both stimuli types. These findings provide further support for the survival processing effect and extend the observed effect duration for both word lists and location to 96 hours.     

Decay theory of immediate memory: From Brown (1958) to today (2014)

This work takes a historical approach to discussing Brown's (1958) paper, “Some Tests of the Decay Theory of Immediate Memory”. This work was and continues to be extremely influential in the field of forgetting over the short term. Its primary importance is in establishing a theoretical basis to consider a process of fundamental importance: memory decay. Brown (1958) established that time-based explanations of forgetting can account for both memory capacity and forgetting of information over short periods of time. We discuss this view both in the context of the intellectual climate at the time of the paper's publication and in the context of the modern intellectual climate. The overarching theme we observe is that decay is as controversial now as it was in the 1950s and 1960s.     

A non-linear utility theory with multiple objectives

The aim of this paper is to make optimum several objectives at the same time which would enable a measurement of utility for several possible alternatives. The problem is solved if a strong or weak dominance exists between the alternatives, otherwise a set of incomparable alternatives would be present. Therefore, indifference curve analysis offers the outcome but as these indifference loci are difficult to determine only the characteristics of this analysis are maintained viz. decreasing marginal utility, non-linearity and even non-convexity. Indifference and reference point theory with the Minkowski min–max-metric only respond to these characteristics. Also the problem of generating alternatives during the process is taken into consideration. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of stimulus duration and choice delay on visual categorization in pigeons

We [Lazareva, O. F., Freiburger, K. L., & Wasserman, E. A. (2004). Pigeons concurrently categorize photographs at both basic and superordinate levels. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 11, 1111-1117] previously trained four pigeons to classify color photographs into their basic-level categories (cars, chairs, flowers, or people) or into their superordinate-level categories (natural or artificial). Here, we found that brief stimulus durations had the most detrimental effect on the basic-level discrimination of natural stimuli by the same pigeons. Increasing the delay between stimulus presentation and choice responding had greater detrimental effect on the basic-level discrimination than the superordinate-level discrimination. These results suggest that basic-level discriminations required longer stimulus durations and were more subject to forgetting than were superordinate-level discriminations. Additionally, categorization of natural stimuli required longer stimulus durations than categorization of artificial stimuli, but only at the basic level. Together, these findings suggest that basic-level categorization may not always be superior to superordinate-level categorization and provide additional evidence of a dissociation between natural and artificial stimuli in pigeons’ categorization.     

A Latent Gaussian process model for analysing intensive longitudinal data

Intensive longitudinal studies are becoming progressively more prevalent across many social science areas, and especially in psychology. New technologies such as smart-phones, fitness trackers, and the Internet of Things make it much easier than in the past to collect data for intensive longitudinal studies, providing an opportunity to look deep into the underlying characteristics of individuals under a high temporal resolution. In this paper we introduce a new modelling framework for latent curve analysis that is more suitable for the analysis of intensive longitudinal data than existing latent curve models. Specifically, through the modelling of an individual-specific continuous-time latent process, some unique features of intensive longitudinal data are better captured, including intensive measurements in time and unequally spaced time points of observations. Technically, the continuous-time latent process is modelled by a Gaussian process model. This model can be regarded as a semi-parametric extension of the classical latent curve models and falls under the framework of structural equation modelling. Procedures for parameter estimation and statistical inference are provided under an empirical Bayes framework and evaluated by simulation studies. We illustrate the use of the proposed model though the analysis of an ecological momentary assessment data set.     

Separating within-person from between-person effects in the longitudinal co-occurrence of depression and different anxiety syndromes in youth

Cross-lagged panel models (CLPM) are often used to study anxiety-depression co-occurrence. However, the CLPM aggregates within- and between-person variance, which can lead to incorrect estimates. The latent curve model with structured residuals (LCM-SR) parses these sources of variance. We utilized the LCM-SR to examine prospective associations between anxiety (physical, social, separation) and depression. Youth (N = 680; M_age = 11.8; 55% female) completed measures of depression and anxiety every 3 months for 3 years (13 timepoints). The LCM-SR describing anxiety-depression co-occurrence fit well (RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.06). Depression predicted within-person change in social (b = 0.09), physical (b = 0.04), and separation anxiety (b = 0.06) over 13 timepoints. Separation anxiety predicted within-person change in depression (b = 0.08); social and physical anxiety did not. Findings advance knowledge of within-person development of anxiety-depression co-occurrence.     

Driver perception hypothesis: Driving simulator study

According the driver perception hypothesis, horizontal curves appear sharper or flatter when overlapping with crest or sag vertical curves, respectively. Confirmations of this hypothesis are provided by studies carried out using non-interactive techniques that do not allow the analysis of the driver’s reactions to the visual perception of the road.This study was aimed to add to the body of knowledge concerning driver’s speed behavior on combined curves, as well as to test the perception hypothesis based on the speed data collected during tests in the interactive CRISS driving simulator.Speeds on the tangent-curve transition of crest and sag combinations were compared to those on the tangent-curve transition of horizontal curves with the same radii but on a flat grade (reference curves).For the crest combinations the results of the statistical analyses were fully consistent with the perception hypothesis. On the sag combinations, on the contrary, the driver’s speed behavior did not differ in any statistically significant way from that on the reference curves. Therefore this finding did not support the perception hypothesis on the sag combinations. The effects of the combined curves on the driver’s speed behavior did not change in function of the level of the radius. Some implications of these findings have been highlighted.     

Time-specific Errors in Growth Curve Modeling: Type-1 Error Inflation and a Possible Solution with Mixed-Effects Models

Growth curve modeling (GCM) has been one of the most popular statistical methods to examine participants’ growth trajectories using longitudinal data. In spite of the popularity of GCM, little attention has been paid to the possible influence of time-specific errors, which influence all participants at each timepoint. In this article, we demonstrate that the failure to take into account such time-specific errors in GCM produces considerable inflation of type-1 error rates in statistical tests of fixed effects (e.g., coefficients for the linear and quadratic terms). We propose a GCM that appropriately incorporates time-specific errors using mixed-effects models to address the problem. We also provide an applied example to illustrate that GCM with and without time-specific errors would lead to different substantive conclusions about the true growth trajectories. Comparisons with other models in longitudinal data analysis and potential issues of model misspecification are discussed.     

Intercorrelations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' loneliness during pregnancy,infancy and toddlerhood – STEPS study

Our aim was to study the inter‐correlations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' social and emotional loneliness during pregnancy (20th pregnancy week), infancy (child aged 8 months), and early childhood (child aged 18 months). Moreover, we aimed to study whether mothers and fathers who have different developmental profiles (identified by latent growth curve mixture models) differ in their experiences of marital dissatisfaction (RDAS), social phobia (SPIN) and depression (BDI) during pregnancy. Both mothers' social and emotional loneliness and fathers' social and emotional loneliness were highly stable, and within individuals these loneliness factors were strongly correlated. However, the correlations between mothers' loneliness experiences and fathers' loneliness experiences were weaker than expected. Separate latent growth curve groups were identified, which differed in feelings of marital dissatisfaction, social phobia, and depression. These groupings revealed that the higher the loneliness was, the more the parents experience these other psychosocial problems.