The role of the oath in credibility assessment

Based on the adaptive lie detector theory, this study is an examination of whether taking an oath, as context‐general information, increases the credibility of a suspect. The consistency of the testimonies of 6 eyewitnesses was manipulated so that it could be used as individuating information. There were 2 sets of testimonies: one that was consistent and one that was inconsistent. The results supported the adaptive lie detector theory. The participants judged those persons who took an oath to be more credible than those who did not, but this only happened in situations where the testimonies of the eyewitnesses were inconsistent. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings and future directions are then discussed.     

Attentional orienting and awareness: evidence from a discrimination task

We used several cue–target SOAs (100, 500, 1000 ms) and three different degrees of cue predictability (Non-predictive-50%, Predictive-75%, Counter-predictive-25%), to investigate the role of awareness of cue–target predictability on cueing effects. A group of participants received instructions about the informative value of the cue, while another group did not receive such instructions. Participants were able to extract the predictive value of a spatially peripheral cue and use it to orient attention, whether or not specific instructions about the predictive value of the cue were given, and no matter their ability to correctly report it in a post-test questionnaire. In the non-predictive block, bad estimators who received no instructions showed regular cueing effects, while good estimators exhibited smaller and non-significant facilitatory effects at the short SOA and an absence of significant IOR at longer SOAs. However, for the instructions group, the pattern of results reversed.     

Markedness effects in Norwegian–English bilinguals: Task-dependent use of language-specific letters and bigrams

This study investigates how bilinguals use sublexical language membership information to speed up their word recognition process in different task situations. Norwegian–English bilinguals performed a Norwegian–English language decision task, a mixed English lexical decision task, or a mixed Norwegian lexical decision task. The mixed lexical decision experiments included words from the nontarget language that required a “no” response. The language specificity of the Bokmål (a Norwegian written norm) and English (non)words was varied by including language-specific letters (“smør”, “hawk”) or bigrams (“dusj”, “veal”). Bilinguals were found to use both types of sublexical markedness to facilitate their decisions, language-specific letters leading to larger effects than language-specific bigrams. A cross-experimental comparison indicates that the use of sublexical language information was strategically dependent on the task at hand and that decisions were based on language membership information derived directly from sublexical (bigram) stimulus characteristics instead of indirectly via their lexical representations. Available models for bilingual word recognition fail to handle the observed marker effects, because all consider language membership as a lexical property only.     

Differential effects of cue specificity and list length on the prospective and retrospective prospective-memory components

Event-based prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember to perform an intended action at an appropriate moment that is indicated by some cue. It has been shown that increasing the number of PM cues as well as decreasing the cues' specificity can impair PM performance. Although both manipulations result in similar detrimental effects to PM accuracy, they may affect different underlying cognitive processes. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated both the number of cues and cue specificity and found the expected detrimental effects on PM accuracy. Analyses with the multinomial model of PM, which considers false PM responses and accounts for guessing biases, imply that the cue-list-length manipulation affected cue singularisation as well as intention retrieval, whereas cue specificity selectively affected intention retrieval. These results are original evidence that the performance decrements from the two manipulations have different cognitive underpinnings.     

Predicting stress patterns in an unpredictable stress language: The use of non-lexical sources of evidence for stress assignment in Russian

The main goal of this research was to examine how readers of Russian assign stress to disyllabic words. In particular, we tested the claim that the process of stress assignment in Russian can only be accomplished lexically. Eleven potential non-lexical sources of evidence for stress in Russian were examined in regression and factorial studies. In Study 1, onset complexity, coda complexity, the orthography of the first syllable (CVC1), of the second syllable (CVC2), and of the ending of the second syllable (VC2) were found to be probabilistically associated with stress in Russian disyllables. In Studies 2 and 3, it was shown that Russian speakers do use 3 of these cues (CVC1, CVC2, and VC2) when making stress-assignment decisions. These results provide evidence against the idea that the nature of stress in the Russian language is so unpredictable that stress assignment can only be accomplished lexically. These results also suggest that any successful model of stress assignment in Russian needs to contain mechanisms allowing these 3 orthographic cues to play a role in the stress-assignment process.     

Child Outcomes of Nonabusive and Customary Physical Punishment by Parents: An Updated Literature Review

This article updates the only previous systematic literature review of child outcomes of nonabusive and customary physical punishment by parents. The outcomes differ by methodologic, child, and subcultural factors as well as by how the physical punishment was used. All six studies that used clinical samples (including four randomized clinical studies) and all three sequential-analysis studies found beneficial outcomes, such as reduced noncompliance and fighting, primarily when nonabusive spanking was used to back up milder disciplinary tactics in 2- to 6-year olds. Five of eight longitudinal studies that controlled for initial child misbehavior found predominantly detrimental outcomes of spanking. However, those detrimental outcomes were primarily due to overly frequent use of physical punishment. Furthermore, apparently detrimental outcomes have been found for every alternative disciplinary tactic when investigated with similar analyses. Such detrimental associations of frequent use of any disciplinary tactic may be due to residual confounding from initial child misbehavior. Specific findings suggest discriminations between effective and counterproductive physical punishment with young children. More research is needed to clarify the role of spanking and alternative disciplinary tactics in control system aspects of parental discipline.     

Preference for progressive delays and concurrent physical therapy exercise in an adult with acquired brain injury

The purpose of this study was to increase self-control and engagement in a physical therapy task (head holding) for a man with acquired traumatic brain injury. Once impulsivity was observed (i.e., repeated impulsive choices), an experimental condition was introduced that consisted of choices between a small immediate reinforcer, a large fixed-delay reinforcer, and a large progressive-delay reinforcer. The participant showed a preference for the progressive-delay option, even when the duration of the delay exceeded that of the fixed delay. The results have implications for establishing optimal choice making and teaching life-enhancing skills.     

The effects of delayed physical prompts and reinforcement on infant sign language acquisition

Researchers and clinicians have recommended that sign language be taught to typically developing children during their first 2 years of life; however, existing research does not provide adequate information regarding appropriate methods of sign training. We used delayed physical prompting and reinforcement to teach manual signs to 3 children between the ages of 6 and 13 months. Data were collected on the occurrence of prompted and independent signs as well as crying. Sign training was successful in producing independent signing in all 3 children in under 4 hr of training per child.     

Multilevel Correlates of Childhood Physical Aggression and Prosocial Behavior

The study identified independent individual, family, and neighborhood correlates of children's physical aggression and prosocial behavior. Participants were 2,745 2–11-year olds nested in 1,982 families, which were themselves nested in 96 Canadian neighborhoods. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that the total variation explained by the three-level model was 28.03% for physical aggression and 17.57% for prosocial behavior. For both childhood behaviors, approximately 66% of this explained variance was between individuals and up to 30% was between families. The smallest amount of observed variation was between neighborhoods. Significant individual-level predictors common to both childhood behaviors were child's sex and maternal hostility toward the target child. Specifically, boys had more mother-reported physical aggression and less prosocial behavior. Children who experienced greater-than-average maternal hostility (compared to siblings) were more physically aggressive and less prosocial. At the family level, significant common predictors were mother depressed mood and punitive parenting. Children had higher levels of physical aggression and lower levels of prosocial behavior in families where mothers had greater depressed mood and used more punitive parenting practices. At the neighborhood level, greater perceived problems and lower poverty level were associated with higher levels of physical aggression. Results are discussed with reference to past and future studies of multilevel effects on children's socialization.     

Changing Beliefs About Corporal Punishment: Increasing Knowledge About Ineffectiveness to Build More Consistent Moral and Informational Beliefs

Although the effectiveness of corporal punishment (CP) has received little empirical support, public support for this disciplinary method continues despite calls for its abandonment by researchers. Even among educators, favorable attitudes toward the use of CP are prevalent. We measured education majors beliefs about CP before and after they read about CP research on its effectiveness and side effects. Students who changed their behavioral intent regarding whether they would use CP as a parent increased their knowledge about its ineffectiveness, resulting in greater consistency between their moral and informational beliefs (Wainryb, 1998). Persons who are likely to change from defending to opposing CP regard it as being similar to bad-tasting medicine—not very pleasant but nonetheless necessary. Recommendations concerning implementation and changing other beliefs are discussed.