The Role of Surface Similarity in Analogical Retrieval: Bridging the Gap Between the Naturalistic and the Experimental Traditions

Blanchette and Dunbar (2000) have claimed that when participants are allowed to draw on their own source analogs in the service of analogical argumentation, retrieval is less constrained by surface similarity than traditional experiments suggest. In two studies, we adapted this production paradigm to control for the potentially distorting effects of analogy fabrication and uneven availability of close and distant sources in memory. Experiment 1 assessed whether participants were reminded of central episodes from popular movies while generating analogies for superficially similar versus superficially dissimilar target situations. In Experiment 2, we modified this procedure to assess the retrieval of autobiographic memories, more familiar to participants than fictional episodes. Both studies revealed a strong effect of surface similarity on the retrieval of participants' own sources, thus suggesting that the superficial bias typically observed in experimental studies—and simulated by most computational models—does not originate in a lack of ecological validity.     

My Mentor,My Self: Antecedents and Outcomes of Perceived Similarity in Mentoring Relationships

This study examines the antecedents and outcomes of perceived similarity in mentoring relationships in a sample of 82 matched mentor-protégé dyads. Polynomial regression analyses were used to examine the association between actual and perceived similarity. Protégés were more likely to see themselves as similar to their mentors when they and their mentors shared either higher or lower levels of attachment security. However, sharing similar levels of relational self-construal was unrelated to protégés perceptions of similarity with their mentors. Path analyses revealed that protégés reported more organizational and professional commitment when they saw themselves as similar to their mentors, and that these associations were mediated by protégés’ reports of their mentors providing role modeling functions. These findings suggest that the effects of actual mentor-protégé similarity on perceptions of similarity may depend on the shared attribute, and provide further evidence of the importance of perceived similarity to not only mentoring relationships, but also to organizations.     

Cognitive Task Analysis for Implicit Knowledge About Visual Representations With Similarity Learning Methods

Visual representations are prevalent in STEM instruction. To benefit from visuals, students need representational competencies that enable them to see meaningful information. Most research has focused on explicit conceptual representational competencies, but implicit perceptual competencies might also allow students to efficiently see meaningful information in visuals. Most common methods to assess students’ representational competencies rely on verbal explanations or assume explicit attention. However, because perceptual competencies are implicit and not necessarily verbally accessible, these methods are ill‐equipped to assess them. We address these shortcomings with a method that draws on similarity learning, a machine learning technique that detects visual features that account for participants’ responses to triplet comparisons of visuals. In Experiment 1, 614 chemistry students judged the similarity of Lewis structures and in Experiment 2, 489 students judged the similarity of ball‐and‐stick models. Our results showed that our method can detect visual features that drive students’ perception and suggested that students’ conceptual knowledge about molecules informed perceptual competencies through top‐down processes. Furthermore, Experiment 2 tested whether we can improve the efficiency of the method with active sampling. Results showed that random sampling yielded higher accuracy than active sampling for small sample sizes. Together, the experiments provide the first method to assess students’ perceptual competencies implicitly, without requiring verbalization or assuming explicit visual attention. These findings have implications for the design of instructional interventions that help students acquire perceptual representational competencies.     

The informative value of type of repetition: Perceptual and conceptual fluency influences on judgments of truth

We contrast the effects of conceptual and perceptual fluency resulting from repetition in the truth effect. In Experiment 1, participants judged either verbatim or paraphrased repetitions, which reduce perceptual similarity to original statements. Judgments were made either immediately after the first exposure to the statements or after one week. Illusions of truth emerged for both types of repetition, with delay reducing both effects. In Experiment 2, participants judged verbatim and paraphrased repetitions with either the same or a contradictory meaning of original statements. In immediate judgments, illusions of truth emerged for repetitions with the same meaning and illusions of falseness for contradictory repetitions. In the delayed session, the illusion of falseness disappeared for contradictory statements. Results are discussed in terms of the contributions of recollection of stimulus details and of perceptual and conceptual fluency to illusions of truth at different time intervals and judgmental context conditions.     

A differing bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of facial expression

This study explored a bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of various facial expressions deriving from both the observer and sender in a sample of Chinese participants. A facial manipulation task was used to examine the ability of an observer's facial feedback to modulate the recognition of various facial expressions. Furthermore, the effect of a sender's facial expression with an open or closed mouth on recognition accuracy was investigated. The results showed that only recognition accuracy of a sad facial expression was influenced simultaneously by bidirectional sources from a sender and observer. Moreover, the impact of the unidirectional cue of a sender's facial feature (i.e., mouth openness) on happy and neutral faces was found to influence the recognition accuracy of these faces, but not the observer's bodily state. These findings indicate that the bidirectional impact derived from an observer and sender on facial expression recognition accuracy differs for emotional and neutral expressions.     

Retrieval of names in face and object naming in an interference study

Two experiments using the interference paradigm are reported. In the first experiment, the participants spoke aloud the names of celebrities and the names of objects when presented with pictures while hearing distractors. In the case of proper names, we replicated the data obtained by Izaute and Bonin (2001) using the interference paradigm with a proper name written naming task. In the case of common names, the results replicated those obtained by Shriefers, Meyer, and Levelt (1990). In the second experiment, the participants produced the names of celebrities when presented with their faces while hearing distractors that were either proper names associated with the celebrities (associate condition), that belonged to a different professional category (different condition), or that corresponded to the proper names of the celebrities (identical condition). For negative SOAs, “associate” distractors were found to increase latencies compared to the “different category” condition. The implications of the findings for proper name retrieval are briefly discussed.     

Deliberate Numerical Discrepancy of Generation in the Genealogy of Matthew

In the genealogy of Matthew, there is a numerical ‘discrepancy’ between the actual totals of generations (fourteen, fourteen, and thirteen) recorded in Matthew 1:12-16 and the stated totals (fourteen, fourteen, and fourteen) in 1:17.

This paper argues that Matthew's genealogy is devised by inserting breaks based on the pattern and concept of Chronicles in order to convey the unique Matthean message. This argument will be defended by showing the similarities between Chronicles and Matthew: (1) Matthew follows the Chronicler by putting the genealogy at the beginning of the whole book as an introduction to convey the Matthean messages; (2) by combining concepts of kingship and priesthood; (3) by mentioning ‘the sons of Israel’ and ‘all Israel’; (4) by including Gentiles; (5) by using retribution theology; (6) by employing intensification in his chiastic genealogical structure; (7) Matthewâ..s omission of several kings is in line with the Chronicler's ideology of cultic-oriented kingship; (8) Matthew shares the Chronicler's point of view that Judah's deportation to Babylon does not invalidate Yahweh's promise for the Davidic kingdom. Thus, the apparent numerical ‘discrepancy’ is deliberately devised by the Matthean author, just as the Chronicler uses the numerical discrepancy to highlight his emphases in the genealogies.     

The role of perceptual similarity of the task environments in children’s perseverative responding

Perseverative responding is often seen in children’s performance in a variety of contexts. One such context is symbolic comprehension in which 2- and 2½-year-olds demonstrate difficulty in appreciating the association of symbols (pictures and scale models) and their referents and show a high proportion of perseverative responding. Representational-level explanations of perseveration were explored in the current studies via examination of the impact of perceptual similarity of visual environments across trials. Across two experiments, children saw either a picture (Experiment 1) or a scale model (Experiment 2) of a hiding location of a room and were then encouraged to recover the toy from an identical room. Manipulating the perceptual similarity of the environments across successive trials affected performance and perseverative responding. These results highlight the critical role played by perceptual information not only in symbolic tasks but also in many other tasks and have important implications for theories of perseveration.     

Trust Development: Testing a New Model in Undergraduate Roommate Relationships

Interpersonal trust is a vital component of social relationships. In this study the roles of parental attachment, perceived similarity of trustee to self, and social exchange processes in trust development were investigated longitudinally with randomly assigned, same-sex undergraduate roommates during emerging adulthood. A total of 214 first-year students completed weekly self-report measures during the first 5 weeks of the fall semester. Perceived similarity measured the second week and social exchange with roommates across the 5 weeks predicted participants’ trust in their roommate, with social exchange mediating the relation between perceived similarity and trust. Results highlight interrelations of social exchange and trust in established relationships.