Trouble articulating the right words: Evidence for a response‐exclusion account of distraction during semantic fluency

It is widely held that single‐word lexical access is a competitive process, a view based largely on the observation that naming a picture is slowed in the presence of a distractor‐word. However, problematic for this view is that a low‐frequency distractor‐word slows the naming of a picture more than does a high‐frequency word. This supports an alternative, response‐exclusion, account in which a distractor‐word interferes because it must be excluded from an articulatory output buffer before the right word can be articulated (the picture name): A high, compared to low, frequency word accesses the buffer more quickly and, as such, can also be excluded more quickly. Here we studied the respective roles of competition and response‐exclusion for the first time in the context of semantic verbal fluency, a setting requiring the accessing of, and production of, multiple words from long‐term memory in response to a single semantic cue. We show that disruption to semantic fluency by a sequence of to‐be‐ignored spoken distractors is also greater when those distractors are low in frequency, thereby extending the explanatory compass of the response‐exclusion account to a multiple‐word production setting and casting further doubt on the lexical‐selection‐by‐competition view. The results can be understood as reflecting the contribution of speech output processes to semantic fluency.     

Stimulus competition in pre/post and online ratings in an evaluative learning design

Evaluative learning is said to differ from Pavlovian associative learning in that it reflects stimulus contiguity, not contingency. Thus, evaluative learning should not be subject to stimulus competition, a proposal tested in the current experiments. Participants were presented in elemental and compound training phases with pictures of shapes as CSs. Each shape/pair of shapes was followed by a picture of a happy or an angry face as the US. In Experiments 1 and 2, evaluative ratings were collected before and after the experiment, and, in Experiment 3, participants provided evaluations online. Stimulus competition was evident in all experiments confirming that evaluative learning is sensitive to stimulus contingencies.     

The development of analogy making in children: Cognitive load and executive functions

The aim of the current study was to investigate the performance of 6-, 8-, and 14-year-olds on an analogy-making task involving analogies in which there are competing perceptual and relational matches. We hypothesized that the selection of the common relational structure requires the inhibition of other salient features, in particular, perceptual matches. Using an A:B::C:D paradigm, we showed that children’s performance in analogy-making tasks depends crucially on the nature of the distractors. Children chose more perceptual distractors having a common feature with C compared with A or B (Experiment 1). In addition, they were also influenced by unstructured random textures. When measuring reaction times instead of accurate responses, only the 8-year-olds’ reaction times were significantly influenced by perceptual distractors. The 6-year-olds seemed to select the first match they noticed, and the 14-year-olds were not influenced (or much less influenced) by featural distractors. These results are compatible with an analogy-making account based on varying limitations in executive functioning at different ages.     

中学生好胜心培养的实验研究

以积极的归因训练、表扬与奖励和适当的竞赛等手段对中学生的好胜心进行培养,通过一个学期三个阶段的培养,结果发现,实验班学生的好胜心水平增量显著高于对照班学生,实验班学生的学习成绩增量也显著高于对照班学生,好胜心水平与学习成绩存在着显著的正相关。研究表明,积极的归因训练、表扬与奖励、适当的竞赛是培养中学生好胜心的有效措施。     

竞争和合作对学龄前儿童分配模式的影响:心理理论和抑制控制的作用

研究考察在双方贡献不相等时,3~6岁儿童分配模式的发展趋势及其原因。98名儿童在竞争或合作情境下和玩偶进行钓鱼游戏,然后对6枚冰箱贴进行分配。结果发现5~6岁儿童比3~4岁儿童进行平均分配的比例更高,一级心理理论和抑制控制能力完全中介了年龄的效应。和竞争情境相比,合作情境促进儿童进行平均分配,同时情境调节了抑制控制对分配模式的影响。研究表明一级心理理论和抑制控制能力的发展能够解释学龄前儿童分配模式的变化。     

When There Is Not Enough to Go Around: How Black People’s Perceptions of Competition for Black Mates Affects Forced Black Identity Ascriptions of Black/White Multiracial People

Using a resource scarcity framework, the current study investigated whether Black people’s perceptions of competition for Black mates related to ascribing a Black identity onto Black/White Multiracial people. Participants took online questionnaires that assessed competition for Black mates, likelihood of forcing a Black identity onto a self-identified Black/White Multiracial person, essentialism, and contact with Multiracial people. Results indicated that increased perceptions of competition for Black mates was related to increased forced Black identity onto self-identified Black/White Multiracial people, above and beyond levels of essentialism and contact. This relationship was stronger for sexual minorities. The current research supports the proposition that scarcity of resources (i.e., mates) affects ideologies regarding Black/White Multiracial people’s identities.     

Hormones and competitive aggression in women

This study used diaries of competitive interactions to explore the relationship between hormones and competitive aggression in women. Thirty women completed approximately 10 diary entries each. In each entry, the women described a recent competitive interaction they had engaged in and noted whether it was expressed aggressively or through other tactics. Each woman received a score for the fraction of her competitive interactions that were expressed using physical aggression, verbal aggression, nothing overt, and so on. Hormones (total testosterone, free testosterone, androstenedione, estradiol, and cortisol) were measured in serum early in the follicular phase. Results indicate that women with low levels of androstenedione and total testosterone were less likely to express their competitive feelings overtly, while women with high levels of androstenedione were more likely than other women to express their competitive feelings through verbal aggression. Estradiol was unrelated to competitive tactics, but women with high estradiol levels reported fewer competitive interactions over athletics than did other women. Aggr. Behav. 29:107–115, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The role of competition and knowledge in the Ellsberg task

Ambiguity avoidance denotes people's preference for gambling situations with known over unknown, or ambiguous, probability distributions. In four experiments we provide evidence for the interaction between competitiveness and knowledge in Ellsberg's task, in which people have a choice between a risky box (distribution of balls known) and an ambiguous box (distribution of balls not known). If the situation is perceived as competitive (the experimenter or an opponent is responsible for composing the boxes) people avoid ambiguity by betting on the box with the known probability distribution. If the task is perceived as cooperative (a partner or friend is composing the boxes) people are indifferent toward ambiguity or even ambiguity seeking. In addition, we find that people expect their winning odds to be less than even in the ambiguous box. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

结构限制和作业难度对双重作业绩效的影响

通过对不同双重任务的呈现间隔时间和不同任务难度的双重任务的操作研究,探讨了结构限制与资源竞争对双重任务操作绩效的影响。实验结果表明：(1)两种作业呈现的间隔时间对双重任务操作绩效有明显的影响。间隔时间越大,双重任务的作业绩效越好。(2)作业难度对双重任务的操作有明显的影响。作业难度越大,双重任务的操作绩效越差。(3)两个作业呈现的间隔时间不同并不影响作业难度对双重任务操作绩效的作用。本研究的实验结果进一步证实了双重任务操作的三因素假设：结构限制、信息干扰和资源竞争是影响双重任务操作绩效的三个独立的原因。     

Sources of the discontinuity effect: Playing against a group versus being in a group

Intergroup relations tend to be more competitive than relations between individuals. This difference, called the “discontinuity effect,” has been demonstrated under a wide variety of conditions. Two separate explanations for the discontinuity effect were explored in our research. The first explanation is that something about playing against a group leads people to compete. The second explanation is that something about being in a group leads people to compete. The results supported both explanations, although the evidence more strongly favored the effect of being in a group. Distrust mediated both effects.