The mere acceptance effect: Can it influence responses on racial Implicit Association Tests?

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is designed to measure the strength of mental association between each of a pair of target categories (e.g., Black vs. White) and each of a pair of attributes (e.g., negative vs. positive). Recent work on the mere acceptance effect shows that, if one of the categories is the focus of attention, then an apparent preference for the focal category can emerge on the IAT, even when no such preference actually exists. It has been suggested that mere acceptance could influence responding on names-based racial IATs, perhaps leading to an exaggeration of anti-Black/pro-White bias. Whether such IATs can be influenced by a mere acceptance effect is unknown, though. By manipulating whether “Black” or “White” was the focal category on a names-based racial IAT, the present studies addressed this very issue. The results were consistent with the operation of mere acceptance effects, but not effects large enough to fully explain the appearance of bias on the IAT.     

Identifying similarities in cognitive subtest functional requirements: An empirical approach

In the cognitive test interpretation literature, a Rational/Intuitive, Indirect Empirical, or Combined approach is typically used to construct conceptual taxonomies of the functional (behavioral) similarities between subtests. To address shortcomings of these approaches, the functional requirements for 49 subtests from six individually administered scales of cognitive ability (WISC-IV, WPPSI-III, SB-V, WJ-III, CAS, and UNIT) were typed on index cards. Forty-eight (48) in-service and/or pre-service school psychologists were asked to sort the cards into two, three, five, or eight functionally similar piles. A multidimensional scaling analysis was performed on a 49 × 49 matrix of similarity scores collapsed across all 48 subjects. Three dimensions were extracted from the data: Reproduction of Stimuli Sequences versus Picture Viewing (Dimension 1), Timed Speed versus Untimed Power (Dimension 2), and Verbal versus Performance (Dimension 3). A hierarchical clustering procedure was then applied to the matrix data, and results were compared to previous categorization schemes identified in the test interpretation literature.     

论结合CNV和P300进行犯罪心理生理测试的可行性

在国外,事件相关电位技术应用于犯罪心理生理测试已经有多年的历史,近年来我国也有所尝试;但大多是以单一的ERP成分作为判断指标。若在测试过程中能通过特殊的设计,同时诱发两种或两种以上的特异性ERP,在结果分析时采用多种指标进行相互印证、相互支持的分析,定能在一定程度上提高测试的准确性。本文以此为出发点,讨论结合CNV和P300进行犯罪心理生理测试的可行性。     

Test development and use in five Iberian Latin American countries

The abundance of scholarship on test development and use generally is higher in English‐speaking than in Iberian Latin American countries. The purpose of this article is to help overcome this imbalance by describing and identifying similarities and differences in test development and use in two Iberian (Portugal and Spain) and three of the largest Latin American (Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela) countries. The stages of test development in each country, roles of professional associations, presence of standards for test use, professionals' educational training, commonly used tests, together with prominent challenges to continued progress are discussed. Test development and use in these five countries are transitioning from a dependence on the use of translated tests to greater reliance on adapted and finally nationally constructed tests. Continued growth requires adherence to international standards guiding test development and use. Stronger alliance among professional associations in the Iberian Latin American countries could serve as a catalyst to promote test development in these regions.     

Effets de l’âge et de la capacité de mémoire de travail sur l’exécution d’instructions de complexité variable chez des adultes jeunes et âgés

Technical devices are part of elderly people's daily life. Meanwhile, research has not yet systematically explored how old people understand procedural instructions accompanying these devices. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate how age and memory span affect how people follow procedural instructions. To do so, the Reading Span Test of Daneman & Carpenter (1980) and an adaptation of the Kaplan & White's (1980) following directions game were administrated to young and older adults. The Reading Span Test was administrated in order to determine the participants’ memory span size. Then, participants had to follow procedural instructions with a growing complexity displayed on a computer screen. Results show that participants’ age and instructions complexity affect how the instructions are performed. Old adults encounter more difficulty performing the task than young adults. Furthermore, whatever the age, as the complexity of instructions increases, low-span participants have more difficulty performing instructions than high-span participants do.     

Slow wave maturation on a visual working memory task

The purpose of the present study is to analyze how the Slow Wave develops in the retention period on a visual Delayed Match-to-Sample task performed by 170 subjects between 6 and 26 years old, divided into 5 age groups. In addition, a neuropsychological test (Working Memory Test Battery for Children) was correlated with this Event Related Potential (ERP) in order to observe possible relationships between Slow Wave maturation and the components of Baddeley and Hitch’s Working Memory model.The results showed a slow negativity during the retention period in the posterior region in all the age groups, possibly resulting from sustained neural activity related to the visual item presented. In the anterior region, a positive slow wave was observed in the youngest subjects. Dipole analysis suggests that this fronto-central positivity in children (6–13 years old) consists of the positive side of the posterior negativity, once these subjects only needed two posterior dipoles to explain almost all the neural activity. Negative correlations were shown between the Slow Wave and the Working Memory Test Battery for Children, indicating a commonality in assessing Working Memory with the Slow Wave and the neuropsychological testing.     

Procedimientos analítico-racionales en la adaptación de tests. Adaptación al español de la batería de pruebas de razonamiento

Adapting a test between cultures or languages requires taking into account legal, linguistic, metric, and use-related considerations. Significantly more attention has been paid to the methodological aspects involved in the study of metric equivalence than to judgmental-analytical procedures prior to the empirical confirmation stage. However, considering the latter is crucial in the adaptation process. Along these lines, this paper seeks to describe and focus on the relevance of the previous stages, thereby offering a systematization process that comprises ten sections. This approach contributes to ensuring the construction of a test adapted and equivalent in as much as possible to the original. This process is exemplified by means of a Spanish language adaptation of a cognitive test originally designed in Portuguese for the Portuguese population, the Reasoning Test Battery.     

Classroom-based programs of retrieval practice reduce middle school and high school students’ test anxiety

When retrieval practice is applied in classroom settings, do K-12 students experience changes in test anxiety? To answer this question frequently asked by educators, we surveyed 1408 middle school and high school students about their study strategy preferences and their reactions to a classroom-based program of retrieval practice. For classes in which retrieval practice occurred, 92% of students reported that retrieval practice helped them learn and 72% reported that retrieval practice made them less nervous for unit tests and exams. This study is the first to examine the relationship between retrieval practice and classroom test anxiety, and self-reported study strategy use in pre-college students. In light of our results, we encourage K-12 teachers to use retrieval practice in their classrooms to reduce test anxiety and improve learning.     

When implicit fails: Explicit but not implicit attitudes predict choices of decided and undecided voters

IntroductionA recent study (Friese et al., 2012) involving two major political elections in the US and Germany reported that voting behavior was better predicted by explicit than implicit attitudes for both decided and undecided voters and that when voting behavior was predicted by implicit attitudes, the prediction was better for decided than undecided voters.ObjectiveWe conducted a comparable study for the 2012 French presidential election using voter volatility as a measure of voter decidedness, in order to test the generalizability of the findings of Friese et al. (2012).MethodParticipants’ voting intention, explicit and implicit attitudes towards the candidates Sarkozy and Hollande were collected during the 2 weeks separating the two rounds of the election.ResultsOur findings confirm that explicit attitudes outperform implicit attitudes when predicting voting choice, but not that the relationship between implicit attitudes and voting intention is moderated by voter decidedness.ConclusionFurther research is needed in order to test whether the moderation of implicit attitudes by voter decidedness is a robust finding or not.     

Assessing the Multi-faceted Nature of Test Anxiety Among Secondary School Students: An English Version of the German Test Anxiety Questionnaire: PAF-E

The current study concerns the validation of an English version of the German Test Anxiety Inventory, namely the PAF-E. This questionnaire is a multi-faceted measure of test anxiety designed to detect normative test anxiety levels and in consequence meet the need of consultancy. Construct and criterion validity of (PAF-E) were examined with a sample of 96 secondary students (Mage = 12.8, SD = 0.67; 55% girls) from an international school in Berlin (Germany) and 399 secondary students (Mage = 13.4, SD = 0.80; 56% girls) from Montréal (Canada). Both samples completed the PAF-E and related constructs, such as school-related self-efficacy, inhibitory test anxiety, achievement motivation, and the Big Five. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the four-factor-structure (worry, emotionality, interfering thoughts, lack of confidence) of the original German Test Anxiety Inventory (PAF). Each subscale consists of five items with a total of 20 questions. Cronbach's alpha, ranging from.71 to.82 among Germans and.77 to.87 among Canadians as well as the re-test reliability (from.80 to.85 among Canadians) were sufficient. The differential patterns of correlations between other constructs and the indices of test anxiety indicate good construct validity.