Do you remember where sounds,pictures and words came from? The role of the stimulus format in object location memory

Contrasting results in visual and auditory spatial memory stimulate the debate over the role of sensory modality and attention in identity-to-location binding. We investigated the role of sensory modality in the incidental/deliberate encoding of the location of a sequence of items. In 4 separated blocks, 88 participants memorised sequences of environmental sounds, spoken words, pictures and written words, respectively. After memorisation, participants were asked to recognise old from new items in a new sequence of stimuli. They were also asked to indicate from which side of the screen (visual stimuli) or headphone channel (sounds) the old stimuli were presented in encoding. In the first block, participants were not aware of the spatial requirement while, in blocks 2, 3 and 4 they knew that their memory for item location was going to be tested. Results show significantly lower accuracy of object location memory for the auditory stimuli (environmental sounds and spoken words) than for images (pictures and written words). Awareness of spatial requirement did not influence localisation accuracy. We conclude that: (a) object location memory is more effective for visual objects; (b) object location is implicitly associated with item identity during encoding and (c) visual supremacy in spatial memory does not depend on the automaticity of object location binding.     

An improved stochastic EM algorithm for large-scale full-information item factor analysis

In this paper, we explore the use of the stochastic EM algorithm (Celeux & Diebolt (1985) Computational Statistics Quarterly, 2, 73) for large-scale full-information item factor analysis. Innovations have been made on its implementation, including an adaptive-rejection-based Gibbs sampler for the stochastic E step, a proximal gradient descent algorithm for the optimization in the M step, and diagnostic procedures for determining the burn-in size and the stopping of the algorithm. These developments are based on the theoretical results of Nielsen (2000, Bernoulli, 6, 457), as well as advanced sampling and optimization techniques. The proposed algorithm is computationally efficient and virtually tuning-free, making it scalable to large-scale data with many latent traits (e.g. more than five latent traits) and easy to use for practitioners. Standard errors of parameter estimation are also obtained based on the missing-information identity (Louis, 1982, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 44, 226). The performance of the algorithm is evaluated through simulation studies and an application to the analysis of the IPIP-NEO personality inventory. Extensions of the proposed algorithm to other latent variable models are discussed.     

基于语境的预期推理构建的实验研究

两个实验用移动视窗技术,用目标句阅读时间和命名探测词两种指标来考察当文本中有两个情境模型时,读者是否会即时进行预期推理。结果表明,如果在支持性语境与引发推理的信息之间插入一个与支持性语境所描述的情境模型不同的,且与主人公目标有关的因果链上的情境模型的信息,则不管这个插入的情境模型在文本中的位置如何,也不管干扰信息的干扰水平高低,都会降低因果性预期推理在阅读中产生的可能性。     

跨领域项目间联结记忆中项目提取和关系提取的分离：一项事件相关电位研究

使用ERPs技术, 探讨跨领域项目间联结记忆中项目提取和关系提取的差异。学习阶段, 系列呈现面孔-事件动词材料, 让被试识记面孔、事件动词以及两者之间的关系; 测验阶段, 要求被试对成对刺激进行“相同”、“重组”或“新”判断。结果发现：提取阶段, 刺激呈现后约200 ms, “相同”、“重组”和“新”3种条件下的ERPs开始出现分离, 存在“相同/新”、“重组/新”和“相同/重组”三类新旧效应。在200~300 ms, “相同/新”和“重组/新”两类新旧效应表现在前额和额区皮层; 在300~500 ms, 这两类新旧效应广泛地分布在从前到后各个脑区皮层; 在500~700 ms, “相同/新”新旧效应出现在额-顶区皮层, 而无“重组/新”新旧效应; 在700~1400 ms, 这两类新旧效应发生在前额和额区皮层; 在上述4个时段, “相同/重组”关系新旧效应都发生在额中-中央-顶区皮层。从这些结果可以推知：跨领域项目间联结再认中, 项目新旧效应和关系新旧效应同时出现, 但是关系提取比项目提取较晚完成; 额中-中央-顶区皮层关系新旧效应反映了对项目间关系的回忆加工; 而700 ms以后, 前额、额区皮层新旧效应可能反映了项目之间关系提取过程的执行加工功能。     

题目因素分析：基于SEM和基于IRT的两类方法

心理和教育测量一般只能达到顺序量表的水平,其测量数据与被测因子间并非简单线性关系。题目因素分析是用来描述测量题目与因子间非线性关系的统计模型。题目因素分析主要有基于结构方程模型和基于项目反应理论两类方法,两类方法之间存在紧密的联系,甚至可以看作是同一模型的两种表现形式。本文详细阐述了该关系,同时对两类方法在参数估计、模型拟合指标、测量一致性检验和支撑软件等方面的特点进行了分析和比较,以便研究者选择最为适合其研究的方法。     

无领导小组讨论的多侧面Rasch模型应用*

采用项目反应理论(IRT)的多侧面Rasch模型(MFRM),分析评价中心技术中无领导小组讨论(LGD)的测评结果,探讨被试能力水平、评委评分宽严度、评分内部一致性、维度难度和评定等级等问题,进而讨论各种偏差。通过 MFRM 分析人事测评结果,可深入了解被试能力的真实差异、甑别维度难度、探查测评误差源,从而完善测评试题编制、评估或诊断评委合格性、提高测评维度与测评目的匹配性,为拓展项目反应理论在人事测评中的应用提供独特视角。     

Mental fatigue disturbs local processing more than global processing

Focusing of attention is influenced by external features such as the presence of global or local target stimuli, but also by motivation and mood states. In the current study, we examined whether working on cognitively demanding tasks for 2 h, which induces mental fatigue, subsequently had a differential effect on global and local processing. The results showed that, compared to non-fatigued participants, fatigued participants particularly displayed compromised local processing. This indicates that mental fatigue may also manifest itself as effects on attentional focusing. The findings of this study are in line with recent ideas about the nature of fatigue-related cognitive deficits, implying disturbances in the control over attention and behaviour.     

Two interpretations of the discrimination parameter

In this paper we propose two interpretations for the discrimination parameter in the two-parameter logistic model (2PLM). The interpretations are based on the relation between the 2PLM and two stochastic models. In the first interpretation, the 2PLM is linked to a diffusion model so that the probability of absorption equals the 2PLM. The discrimination parameter is the distance between the two absorbing boundaries and therefore the amount of information that has to be collected before a response to an item can be given. For the second interpretation, the 2PLM is connected to a specific type of race model. In the race model, the discrimination parameter is inversely related to the dependency of the information used in the decision process. Extended versions of both models with person-to-person variability in the difficulty parameter are considered. When fitted to a data set, it is shown that a generalization of the race model that allows for dependency between choices and response times (RTs) is the best-fitting model.     

High-dimensional maximum marginal likelihood item factor analysis by adaptive quadrature

Although the Bock–Aitkin likelihood-based estimation method for factor analysis of dichotomous item response data has important advantages over classical analysis of item tetrachoric correlations, a serious limitation of the method is its reliance on fixed-point Gauss-Hermite (G-H) quadrature in the solution of the likelihood equations and likelihood-ratio tests. When the number of latent dimensions is large, computational considerations require that the number of quadrature points per dimension be few. But with large numbers of items, the dispersion of the likelihood, given the response pattern, becomes so small that the likelihood cannot be accurately evaluated with the sparse fixed points in the latent space. In this paper, we demonstrate that substantial improvement in accuracy can be obtained by adapting the quadrature points to the location and dispersion of the likelihood surfaces corresponding to each distinct pattern in the data. In particular, we show that adaptive G-H quadrature, combined with mean and covariance adjustments at each iteration of an EM algorithm, produces an accurate fast-converging solution with as few as two points per dimension. Evaluations of this method with simulated data are shown to yield accurate recovery of the generating factor loadings for models of upto eight dimensions. Unlike an earlier application of adaptive Gibbs sampling to this problem by Meng and Schilling, the simulations also confirm the validity of the present method in calculating likelihood-ratio chi-square statistics for determining the number of factors required in the model. Finally, we apply the method to a sample of real data from a test of teacher qualifications.     

Stereotype Threat in Men on a Test of Social Sensitivity

This study provides evidence of stereotype threat in men on a test of a feminine ability called social sensitivity, that is, the ability to decode nonverbal cues. Men who were told that the test assessed social sensitivity and produced better scores for women than men performed worse on the test than did men who were told that the test assessed information processing. Because social sensitivity can be an automatic skill and stereotype threat uses mental capacity, this effect was moderated by self-reported strategy usage. Mens performance worsened in the threat condition only when they reported more deliberative and less intuitive strategies for decoding nonverbal cues.