Children's cued recall: Developmental differences in retrieval operations

Second and fifth grade children were aurally presented a study list containing eight target items plus primacy and recency buffers, followed first by free recall, then by cued recall for items not produced in free recall. Two additional buffer items were used at Grade 5 in an effort to equate the two age groups in free recall of targets. The cues were either of high or of moderate associative strength, and equal for the two age groups. Free recall of targets did not differ with age, suggesting equivalent storage of targets. At Grade 2 the cued recall level matched expectations based on a simple associative account of cuing effects. However, cued recall at Grade 5 was much higher than the normative association values, implicating strategic retrieval operations, the possible nature of which was discussed.     

The coding and transformation of spatial information

The present paper examines the mental processes involved in inferring perspective changes that result either from the rotation of a spatial array or from the rotation of the viewer of that array. Piaget has shown that viewer-rotation problems are difficult when children must choose among pictures or models of an array from differing perspectives. We showed earlier that, with parallel tasks, array-rotation problems are much easier than viewer-rotation problems. We proposed that in solving these problems, subjects interpret the instructions literally, recoding the position of the viewer vis-à-vis the array for viewer-rotation problems and recoding the array with respect to its spatial framework for arrayrotation problems. At that time, we proposed a second principle to explain why Piagetian perspective problems are so difficult; namely, that children have special difficulty in recoding viewer position (egocentrism). The present experiments show that, when subjects are asked a different sort of question on such tasks, viewer-rotation problems become easy and array-rotation problems become difficult. The results show that the difficulty of the Piagetian perspective task is not due to egocentrism; i.e., to difficulty recoding viewer position. The results of all these rotational-transformation tasks can be explained if we add a different second principle to the principle of literalness of problem interpretation. This new second principle posits that the array is fixed vis-à-vis the spatial context rather than that the viewer is fixed vis-à-vis the array.     

A self-fulfilling prophecy in a competitive psychomotor task

Fifty-six pairs of male college students competed in games of electronic table tennis. The participants were led to expect a bias in the game equipment, such that one player would have an advantage and the other a disadvantage. All participants recorded levels of aspiration both before and after being informed of the alleged bias. Upon completion of the game, the subjects made ratings of causal attribution to five factors: ability, task difficulty, effort, luck, and equipment bias. The results showed that the students with the putative disadvantage set significantly lower aspiration levels and performed at a significantly lower level than those students with the supposed advantage. Thus the putative bias became a real bias, although a psychological rather than a physical one. It is suggested that the source of the bias and the performance differences was a self-fulfilling prophecy. In contrast to the results of earlier studies, there were no meaningful differences in ratings of causal attribution.     

Origin of the speech apparatus and its reconstruction in fossils.

Renewed enthusiasm has produced provocative speculations in recent literature on the origin of speech. The purpose of the present investigation is to expose the adaptive renovations underlying the emergence of a “Vocal Tract” and from this to define its anatomical substrate which governs the biomechanics of speech production. The vocal tract is a double resonator tube coupled in series and composed of oral and pharyngeal cavities. Analysis is made of the crucial structural elements of this complex from detailed dissections in modern man and the study of modern and fossil hominid crania. The study focuses on relations of the skull base, jaw, hyoid bone and the contained tongue, pharynx and valvular devices, calling into question recent reconstructions built on classical Neanderthal skulls.     

Comparative validity of traditional versus S-R format inventories of interpersonal behavior

The comparative validity of two “S-R format” inventories of interpersonal behavior, Kinnane et al.'s (1969) Schedule of Interpersonal Response and a newly developed Rational S-R Inventory, and two “traditional” inventories, the Personality Research Form and the Interpersonal Check List, was examined with respect to 14 self-report and peer rating criteria selected to broadly tap the interpersonal domain. Sixty-four male and female high school seniors served as Ss.In spite of the situational specificity inherent in the S-R inventories, the traditional inventories substantially outperformed the S-R inventories and, in contrast to previous findings, also outperformed simple self-ratings. The results are discussed not only in terms of the relative advantages of various inventory construction strategies but also in reference to the problem of criterion measurement and theoretical and methodological issues in the assessment of situational parameters.     

Habituation,memory, and the evaluative dimension of meaning

Two groups of subjects were exposed to a series of 20 either positively evaluated words (E⁺ group) or negatively evaluated words (E^? group). On the twenty-first trial, half the subjects in E⁺ group (the E^+? group) received a negatively evaluated word while the other half of the subjects received a further positively evaluated word (E⁺⁺ group). A similar subdivision was made with the E^? group to yield E^?+ and E^?? groups. Skin conductance responses to all stimulus words were measured. The responses of the E^+? and E^?+ groups were compared to those of their control groups (E⁺⁺ and E^??) for stimulus words 21 and 22. The results of these analyses, and the data concerning responses prior to stimulus word 21, indicated that subjects habituated to semantic stimuli of the same evaluative meaning. Memory for the words was assessed postexperimentally and its relationship to the orienting response in discussed.     

Hemifield independence in the left handed

Tachistoscopically presented arrays containing either a single word or two words in different configurations were given to left- and right-handed subjects. Several measures indicated hemifield, and by implication, hemispheric independence for word recognition was more likely to be found among left- than right-handers. Differences within the left-handed group associated with the presence of family sinistrality and writing posture were also found. Results were discussed with respect to the view that bilateral representation of language frequently occurs in left-handed adults.