Sequential responding to arabic numerals with wild cards by the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

One adult female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) was trained to respond serially to three arabic numerals between 1 and 9, presented on a cathode-ray-tube (CRT) screen. To examine the factors affecting her sequential responding behavior, wild-card items were added to the three-item sequences. When this wild-card item remained until the subject responded to the last numeral (i.e., the terminator condition), her response to the terminator at each point of the sequence was controlled by the ordinal distance between numerals. Thus, the number of responses to the terminator increased as the ordinal distance between numerals increased. When the wild-card item was eliminated by the subject’s response (wild-card conditions), the probability of responses to the wild card before the first numeral increased as a function of the serial position of the first numeral. These results were consistent with previous studies of response time and suggest both serial position and symbolic distance effects. It is suggested that the subject might form the integrated 9-item linear representations by training of possible subsets of three-item sequences. Knowledge concerning the ordinal position of each numeral was established through this training. Received: 27 October 1999 / Accepted: 22 November 1999     

On the relations among regular, equal unique variances, and image factor analysis models

We investigate under what conditions the matrix of factor loadings from the factor analysis model with equal unique variances will give a good approximation to the matrix of factor loadings from the regular factor analysis model. We show that the two models will give similar matrices of factor loadings if Schneeweiss' condition, that the difference between the largest and the smallest value of unique variances is small relative to the sizes of the column sums of squared factor loadings, holds. Furthermore, we generalize our results and discus the conditions under which the matrix of factor loadings from the regular factor analysis model will be well approximated by the matrix of factor loadings from Jöreskog's image factor analysis model. Especially, we discuss Guttman's condition (i.e., the number of variables increases without limit) for the two models to agree, in relation with the condition we have shown, and conclude that Schneeweiss' condition is a generalization of Guttman's condition. Some implications for practice are discussed.Kentaro Hayashi is a visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Bucknell University, Lewisburg PA 17837, and Peter M. Bentler is Professor, Departments of Psychology and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles CA 90095-1563. (Emails: Khayashi@bucknell.edu, bentler@ucla.edu) Parts of this paper were discussed in a session on Factor Analysis (J. ten Berge, Chair) at the IFCS-98 International Conference, Rome, July, 1998. This work was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse grant DA 01070. The authors thank Professors Hans Schneeweiss and Ke-Hai Yuan, and four anonymous referees, for their invaluable comments which led to an improved version of this paper.     

What is global supervenience?

The relation of global supervenience is widely appealed to in philosophy. In slogan form, it is explained as follows: a class of properties A supervenes on a class of properties B if no two worlds differ in the distribution of A-properties without differing in the distribution of B-properties. It turns out, though, that there are several ways to cash out that slogan. Three different proposals have been discussed in the literature. In this paper, I argue that none of them is adequate. Furthermore, I present a puzzle that reveals a tension in our concept of global supervenience.     

Les pratiques d’evaluation utilisees dans les structures de conseil en recrutement : quelques determinants

Referring to the work of Bruchon-Schweitzer & Ferrieux (1991) and Balicco (1999), the present study describes the recruitment practices of different types of organizations (N=327, 134 consulting companies and 193 temporary placement firms). We hypothesised that job position and recruiter characteristics (sex, age, level and type of education, status, and recruitment experience) would influence the use of selection techniques. Results revealed that choice of selection techniques is not based on a scientific evaluation of applicants. Job position seems to strongly determine use of personality assessment techniques. Further, recruiter characteristics only seem to determine choice of less valid techniques. In the discussion, a theoretical model of choices made by recruiters and some courses of action are proposed.     

权力概念的垂直方位空间隐喻对权力判断的影响

通过两个反应时实验,探讨权力的垂直方位表征对权力判断的影响。实验1发现,当权力词汇出现的位置(电脑屏幕上方或下方)与权力的空间隐喻一致时(高权力词在低权力词上方),相比于隐喻相反时(高权力词在低权力词下方),被试的反应时更短;实验2重复了这一结果,并进一步发现,隐喻一致促进被试的反应,隐喻相反抑制被试的反应。这表明权力的空间隐喻具有心理现实性,会影响权力信息的认知加工。     

Life at Home: Same Time,Different Places — An Examination of the HOME Inventory in Different Cultures

In this paper we review literature on the use of the HOME Inventory across cultures. We address issues pertaining to measurement equivalence and validity. Specifically, we focus on: (a) changes in the content of HOME made by researchers, (b) distributional properties of HOME scores, (c) the factor structure of HOME, and (d) correlations between HOME, family characteristics, child characteristics and environmental conditions. In most affluent, western countries, with their individualist orientations, HOME was used essentially as it was originally constructed. Researchers in less industrialized, more collectivist countries tended to express greater scepticism about the appropriateness of some HOME items, and several teams of researchers made modifications in the instrument. The HOME total score showed theoretically meaningful (and similar) correlations with family structure, family status and child outcome measures across many cultures. Evidence attesting to the cultural equivalence (and validity) of HOME subscales was far less plentiful and compelling. In general, there seemed greater cross-cultural equivalence for items assessing cognitively stimulating aspects of the environment than for items assessing socioemotional support. The usefulness of the Inventory in other cultures and for cross-cultural comparisons depends on the purposes one has for using a measure of the home environment. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

数字空间联结的工作记忆机制

大量研究证实数字空间联结是一种稳定存在的表征形式。而关于数字空间联结的机制目前仍存在较大争论,本文在系统整理了大量有关长时记忆"心理数字线"难以解释的研究后,分析总结了工作记忆在数字空间联结中的重要作用。基于多个研究任务分析了工作记忆不同成分,即中央执行、语音环路和视空模板等,在数字空间联结中的重要作用,并系统介绍了对数字空间联结的工作记忆序列位置的解释。总之,数字空间联结的工作记忆机制仍有较多需要解决的问题,具有进一步探索的广泛空间。     

视觉词汇识别中的字符位置编码

在阅读中,为了进行视觉词汇的识别,需要对字符(字母或汉字)的顺序进行编码(位置信息编码)。本文介绍了拼音文字中的字母位置编码模型,包括开放双字母组模型、空间编码模型和重叠模型,综述了拼音文字和中文词汇识别中字符位置信息编码的研究成果,并对汉字位置信息编码研究提出了展望。     

Bayesian SEM for Specification Search Problems in Testing Factorial Invariance

Specification search problems refer to two important but under-addressed issues in testing for factorial invariance: how to select proper reference indicators and how to locate specific non-invariant parameters. In this study, we propose a two-step procedure to solve these issues. Step 1 is to identify a proper reference indicator using the Bayesian structural equation modeling approach. An item is selected if it is associated with the highest likelihood to be invariant across groups. Step 2 is to locate specific non-invariant parameters, given that a proper reference indicator has already been selected in Step 1. A series of simulation analyses show that the proposed method performs well under a variety of data conditions, and optimal performance is observed under conditions of large magnitude of non-invariance, low proportion of non-invariance, and large sample sizes. We also provide an empirical example to demonstrate the specific procedures to implement the proposed method in applied research. The importance and influences are discussed regarding the choices of informative priors with zero mean and small variances. Extensions and limitations are also pointed out.     

Development of a view-invariant representation of the human head

Do infants perceive visual cues as diverse as frontal-view faces, profiles or bodies as being different aspects of the same object, a fellow human? If that is the case, visual exposure to one such cue should facilitate the subsequent processing of the others. To verify this hypothesis, we recorded event-related responses in 4-month-old infants and in adults. Pictures of eyes were interleaved amongst images belonging to three human contexts (frontal-view faces, profiles or bodies) or non-human contexts (houses, cars or pliers). In adults, both profile and frontal-face contexts elicited suppression of the N170 response to eye pictures, indicating an access to a view-invariant representation of faces. In infants, a response suppression of the N290 component was recorded only in the context of frontal faces, while profile context induces a different effect (i.e., a P400 enhancement) on eye processing. This dissociation suggests that the view-invariant representation of faces is learned, as it is for other 3-D objects and needs more than 4 months of exposure to be established. In a follow-up study, where infants were exposed to a short movie showing people rotating their heads, the profile-induced P400 effect was speeded up, indicating that exposure to successive views of the same object is probably a way to build up adult-like face representations.