A memory-based model of Hick's law

We propose and evaluate a memory-based model of Hick’s law, the approximately linear increase in choice reaction time with the logarithm of set size (the number of stimulus–response alternatives). According to the model, Hick’s law reflects a combination of associative interference during retrieval from declarative memory and occasional savings for stimulus–response repetitions due to non-retrieval. Fits to existing data sets show that the model accounts for the basic set-size effect, changes in the set-size effect with practice, and stimulus–response-repetition effects that challenge the information-theoretic view of Hick’s law. We derive the model’s prediction of an interaction between set size, stimulus fan (the number of responses associated with a particular stimulus), and stimulus–response transition, which is subsequently tested and confirmed in two experiments. Collectively, the results support the core structure of the model and its explanation of Hick’s law in terms of basic memory effects.     

Behavioral intervention to treat selective mutism across multiple social situations and community settings

We evaluated a behavioral intervention for a 9-year-old girl with selective mutism. The intervention consisted of role play and video self-modeling. The frequency of spoken initiations, responses to questions, and communication breakdowns was measured during three social situations (i.e., ordering in a restaurant, meeting new adults, and playing with new children) and in three community settings. Results demonstrated increases in spoken initiations and responses and decreases in communication breakdowns across all situations and settings.     

Using multiple-exemplar training to teach a generalized repertoire of sharing to children with autism

The current study examined the utility of multiple-exemplar training to teach children with autism to share. Stimuli from 3 of 4 categories were trained using a treatment package of video modeling, prompting, and reinforcement. Offers to share increased for all 3 children following the introduction of treatment, with evidence of skill maintenance. In addition, within-stimulus-category generalization of sharing was evident for all participants, although only 1 participant demonstrated across-category generalization of sharing. Offers to share occurred in a novel setting, with familiar and novel stimuli, and in the presence of novel adults and peers for all participants during posttreatment probes.     

Strategic adaptation to performance objectives in a dual-task setting

How do people interleave attention when multitasking? One dominant account is that the completion of a subtask serves as a cue to switch tasks. But what happens if switching solely at subtask boundaries led to poor performance? We report a study in which participants manually dialed a UK‐style telephone number while driving a simulated vehicle. If the driver were to exclusively return his or her attention to driving after completing a subtask (i.e., using the single break in the xxxxx‐xxxxxx representational structure of the number), then we would expect to see a relatively poor driving performance. In contrast, our results show that drivers choose to return attention to steering control before the natural subtask boundary. A computational modeling analysis shows that drivers had to adopt this strategy to meet the required performance objective of maintaining an acceptable lateral position in the road while dialing. Taken together these results support the idea that people can strategically control the allocation of attention in multitask settings to meet specific performance criteria.     

The Importance of Community Context for Young Women’s Occupational Aspirations

The effects of community context on occupational aspirations are examined in a national sample of young women in high school in the USA in 1979 (n = 2,210). Multilevel statistical models indicate that young women living in counties with a lower divorce rate, a lower percentage of women working, and more people employed in the wholesale and retail industrial sector tended to be less likely to aspire to paid work than young women living in areas with a higher divorce rate, a higher percentage of women working, and fewer people employed in the wholesale and retail industrial sector. Community context does not affect the level of young women’s occupational aspirations as predicted by prior scholarship. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2006 Southern Sociological Society Annual Meetings. The author thanks John Reynolds, Patricia Yancey Martin, Irene Padavic, Robert Kunovich, Jennifer Keene, Mary Guy, and the editor and reviewers at Sex Roles for their helpful comments on previous drafts of this paper.     

Preliminary evidence of diurnal rhythms in everyday behaviors associated with positive affect

The authors used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) to track within-day variability in everyday behaviors associated with positive and negative affect across two samples. The EAR is a portable audio recorder that periodically samples snippets of ambient sounds from participants’ momentary environments. The recorded sounds are then coded for different behaviors. The study tested whether previous findings regarding diurnal patterns in self-reported mood extend to naturalistically observed behavior. Across both samples, behavior associated with positive affect (i.e., socializing, laughing, and singing) varied according to a sinusoidal 24-h rhythm centered around participants’ average waketime while behavior associated with negative affect (i.e., arguing and sighing) did not. Further, there was preliminary evidence that personality traits can moderate these rhythms (e.g., their amplitude).     

教师资格和职业发展因素对学生数学成绩的影响：一个跨文化比较

采用TIMSS2003中的数据,应用混合模型,比较香港、日本、瑞典和美国四个国家(地区)教师资格因素和职业发展因素对其学生数学学业成绩的影响。结果发现香港教师高学历和常有其他教师听课提高了学生成绩;瑞典教师的性别、专业和参加数学教学方法方面的职业发展活动,以及美国教师的专业和听其他教师讲课显著影响其学生成绩;日本教师资格和职业发展因素对其学生成绩没有影响。     

Never quite good enough: The paradox of sticky developmental relationships for elite university graduates

Drawing on the mentoring, education, and social psychology literatures, this longitudinal study examines how the persistence of developmental relationships from an elite graduate school influences subjective career outcomes during early career. Participants (n = 136) were surveyed about their developmental networks—a group of individuals who take an active interest in and action to advance a focal individual’s career—and subjective career outcomes over the 10 years (1996-2006) post graduation. Results show that although receiving mentoring from one’s entire developmental network was positively related to career-related self-efficacy and perceptions of career success, this was not the case for ties retained from graduate school. Continuing to receive mentoring support from developers from graduate school and further, from peers from graduate school, was negatively related to perceptions of career success. These findings offer insight into the dynamics and potentially negative consequences of developmental networks and highlight the significance of social comparison during early career.