Arousal enhanced memory retention is eliminated following temporal lobe resection

The amygdala, situated in the anterior medial temporal lobe (MTL), is involved in the emotional enhancement of memory. The present study evaluated whether anterior MTL-resections attenuated arousal induced memory enhancement for pictures. Also, the effect of MTL-resections on response latencies at retrieval was assessed. Thirty-one patients with unilateral MTL-resections (17 left, 14 right) together with 16 controls participated in a forced choice memory task with pictorial stimuli varying in arousal. Response latencies increased with stimulus arousal in controls but not in patients. This was paralleled by attenuated recognition memory for moderately and highly arousing pictures in MTL-resectioned patients as compared to healthy controls. However, patients and controls did not differ in memory performance for non-arousing pictures. These results suggest that the MTL is necessary for arousal induced memory enhancement.     

Language access and language selection in professional translators

Two experiments were conducted measuring self-paced reading to study language access and language selection in professional translators and bilinguals when they understood sentences randomly presented in their first language (L1, Spanish) and second language (L2, English). These sentences contained a critical cognate word or a control matched word. The effect of cognate words was considered an index of between-language activation while the inhibition of the non-target language was examined with the asymmetrical switching cost. In Experiment 1, participants read and repeated sentences while in Experiment 2 participants read sentences without repeating them after reading. The results indicated that lexical processing depended on the experience of participants in professional translation and the demands imposed by the understanding task (reading and repeating or only reading).     

Comparison of dual discrepancy criteria to assess response to intervention

Much of the research regarding diagnosing children as LD with responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI) has examined methods to identify children as non-responsive. The current study examined the dual discrepancy (DD) definition in which children score low on a post-intervention reading measure and score below their peers in reading growth rates. Four definitions of DD were compared, student growth below the 25th percentile, 33rd percentile, 50th percentile, and less than one standard deviation below the mean. Participants were 151 children in grades 1 through 3 who were identified as experiencing reading difficulties. Results suggested that the three percentile groups significantly differentiated reading scores between DD and non-DD children, but the one standard deviation group did not. No ethnic or gender biases were noted and the 25th and 33rd percentile criteria closely matched estimates of LD prevalence. Implications for future research are included.     

Processing time predictions of current models of perception in the classic additive factors paradigm

This article explores the consequences for factorial additivity in a Sternberg [(1969). The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of donders method In: W.G. Koster (Ed.), Attention and performance II, Acta Psychologica, 30, 276-315] additive-factors paradigm of the assumptions adopted by models of perception that relate the representation of a stimulus to decision time. Three example models, signal detection theory with the latency-distance hypothesis, stochastic general recognition theory, and a random walk model of exemplar classification, are interrogated to determine what type of interaction they predict factors will yield in a hypothetical factorial (choice) reaction time experiment in which the ‘empirical’ factors’ effects are manifest as parameter changes. All frameworks make the critical assumption that decision time depends on the perceptual representation of the stimulus as well as the architecture. As a consequence, nonadditivity of factors thought to affect different “stages” in the classical approach emerges within the current modeling approach. The nature of this influence is revealed through analytic investigations and simulation. Earlier empirical findings of failures of selective influence that have defied adequate explanation are reinterpreted in light of the present findings.     

Training preservice general education teachers in response to intervention: A survey of teacher educators throughout the United States

Response to intervention (RTI) is an evidence-based approach to educational service delivery that is being increasingly adopted by schools across the country. To effectively implement RTI models, teachers require specialized training. Little is currently known, however, about the extent to which this training is being provided at the preservice level. The purpose of this survey study was to learn more about RTI-related training provided to preservice general educators in undergraduate elementary education programs. Respondents included 95 program directors of accredited college/university teacher education programs across the United States. Participants reported providing varying levels of didactic and applied training related to each of the six core components of RTI (i.e., multitiered service delivery, universal screening, progress monitoring, data-based decision making, evidence-based interventions, and fidelity of implementation). Although most teacher educators were familiar with the overall concept of RTI, over a third of respondents were not familiar with the core component of fidelity of implementation, and reported providing limited training opportunities in this area. Respondents also indicated whether preservice teachers in their programs receive training related to specific progress monitoring tools and evidence-based interventions. Implications for school psychologists, who frequently collaborate with teachers to implement RTI models, are discussed.     

The Metaphysics of Causal Models

This paper presents an attempt to integrate theories of causal processes—of the kind developed by Wesley Salmon and Phil Dowe—into a theory of causal models using Bayesian networks. We suggest that arcs in causal models must correspond to possible causal processes. Moreover, we suggest that when processes are rendered physically impossible by what occurs on distinct paths, the original model must be restricted by removing the relevant arc. These two techniques suffice to explain cases of late pre?mption and other cases that have proved problematic for causal models.

Novel Measures of Response Performance and Inhibition in Children with ADHD

Fifteen children with ADHD aged 8 to 12 years and age and gender matched controls performed two different stopping tasks to examine response performance and inhibition and their respective moment-to-moment variability. One task was the well-established stop-signal task, while the other was a novel tracking task where the children tracked a spaceship on the screen until an alarm indicated they should stop. Although performance was discrete in the stop signal task and continuous in the tracking task, in both tasks latencies to the stop signal were significantly slowed in children with ADHD. Go performance and variability did not significantly differ between ADHD and control children in either task. Importantly, stopping latency in the novel spaceship tracking task also was more variable in children with ADHD. As stopping variability cannot be measured using the standard stop signal task, the new task offers compelling support for the heretofore untested prediction that stopping is both slowed and more variable in children with ADHD. The results support a response inhibition impairment in ADHD, whilst limiting the extent of an intra-trial variability deficit.

网络环境下第三方评论对冲动购买意愿的影响机制：以产品类别和评论员级别为调节变量

采用问卷调查和实验研究的方法, 构建了以情感为中介的第三方正面评论与网络消费者冲动购买意愿的关系模型, 并检验了产品类别和评论员级别对该模型的调节效应。研究结果表明：第三方评论的好评度、好评数、时效性直接正向影响冲动购买意愿; 好评度以快乐和唤起情感为中介、好评数以快乐情感为中介间接正向影响冲动购买意愿; 消费者购买低涉入度(VS：高涉入度)产品和阅读高级(VS：初级)评论员发布的评论时, 第三方正面评论对冲动购买意愿的影响更强。     

Effects of threat cues on attentional shifting, disengagement and response slowing in anxious individuals

According to cognitive models of anxiety, attentional biases for threat may cause or maintain anxiety states. Previous research using spatial cueing tasks has been interpreted in terms of difficulty in disengaging attention from threat in anxious individuals, as indicated by contrasts of response times (RTs) from threat cue versus neutral cue trials. However, on spatial cueing tasks, differences in RT between threat cue and neutral cue trials may stem from a slowing effect of threat on RT, as well as effects on allocation of visuospatial attention. The present study examined the effects of threat cues on both attentional cueing and response slowing. High and low anxious individuals completed a central cue task, which assessed threat-related response slowing, and a spatial cueing task, which assessed attentional biases for angry, happy and neutral faces. Results indicated that interpretation of the anxiety-related bias for threat depended on whether the effect of response slowing was taken into account. The study illustrates an important problem in using the modified spatial cueing task to assess components of threat-related attentional bias. As this experimental method may reflect both threat-related attentional cueing and response slowing effects, it cannot be assumed to provide pure measures of shift or disengagement components of attention bias.