Effects of Performance Context on Processing Speed and Performance Ratings

The present study demonstrated that the presence of evaluatively polarized context performances not only produces contrast and halo effects on judgments of a target performance, but also causes judgments to be made much faster. Processing speed and positive halo were highly correlated, supporting the notion that halo in performance ratings results from raters' recall and use of a single, general impression. Furthermore, regression analyses demonstrated that processing speed mediates the relationship between context and halo. The relationship between these findings, halo, processing speed, and general impressions, as well as implications for performance appraisals, are discussed.     

Age-related differences in reaction time task performance in young children

Performance of reaction time (RT) tasks was investigated in young children and adults to test the hypothesis that age-related differences in processing speed supersede a “global” mechanism and are a function of specific differences in task demands and processing requirements. The sample consisted of 54 4-year-olds, 53 5-year-olds, 59 6-year-olds, and 35 adults from Russia. Using the regression approach pioneered by Brinley and the transformation method proposed by Madden and colleagues and Ridderinkhoff and van der Molen, age-related differences in processing speed differed among RT tasks with varying demands. In particular, RTs differed between children and adults on tasks that required response suppression, discrimination of color or spatial orientation, reversal of contingencies of previously learned stimulus-response rules, and greater stimulus-response complexity. Relative costs of these RT task differences were larger than predicted by the global difference hypothesis except for response suppression. Among young children, age-related differences larger than predicted by the global difference hypothesis were evident when tasks required color or spatial orientation discrimination and stimulus-response rule complexity, but not for response suppression or reversal of stimulus-response contingencies. Process-specific, age-related differences in processing speed that support heterochronicity of brain development during childhood were revealed.     

The cerebellum and language: Evidence from patients with cerebellar degeneration

Clinical and imaging studies suggest that the cerebellum is involved in language tasks, but the extent to which slowed language production in cerebellar patients contributes to their poor performance on these tasks is not clear. We explored this relationship in 18 patients with cerebellar degeneration and 16 healthy controls who completed measures of verbal fluency (phonemic and semantic), word stem completion, and oral naming speed. Cerebellar patients showed significantly slower response times when naming common nouns, which correlated with their degree of motor impairment. Patients were significantly impaired on both phonemic and semantic fluency measures compared to controls (p < 0.001), even when naming speed was entered as a covariate (p = 0.03). On the word stem completion task, patients were significantly less accurate (p < 0.001), had more errors due to non-responses (p = 0.008), and were slower to respond (p = 0.036) than controls; group effects were significant for overall accuracy, but not response time, when the effects of naming speed were covaried (p = 0.014). These findings suggest that cerebellar patients’ poorer performance on language tasks cannot be explained solely by slower language production, and that the integrity of cerebellar-prefrontal loops might underlie poorer performance on measures of executive function in cerebellar patients.     

与年龄相关的认知速度减慢及学习改善过程

该工作应用人机对话方式完成心算、符号数字、数字鉴别和计数四项作业认知速度年老减慢及学习改善过程的研究,被试３５０人,４６—７５岁。研究结果表明：四项认知作业速度随年老进行性减慢;然而,老年人经学习训练认知作业速度可明显改善。上述变化程度与作业所需时间有密切关系,提示年老过程中枢信息加工过程速度的减慢快于外周感觉─运动过程速度的减慢,学习改善作用也可能主要是中枢过程速度的提高。     

RSVP显示方式下影响中文阅读效果的主要因素

通过二个实验考察了在采用快速序列视觉呈现（RSVP）显示方式时．影响中文阅读效果的二个主要因素,即每次同时呈现的字数和人为的词切分。结果表明．在RSVP显示方式下．中文的阅读理解正确率不受每次同时显示的字数多少或人为词切分的影响,而阅读速度和阅读效率则随每次同时呈现的字数的增加而相应提高;词切分条件下的阅读速度和效率略低于与其字数相当的固定字数显示方式下的阅读速度和效率。     

Discriminability of frequency of food or stimulus presentations in variable-time schedules

Pigeons responded in a two-alternative forced-choice task in which reinforcement was dependent upon the frequency of events that occurred in an immediately preceding schedule sample. On a given trial the events were either brief food presentations or brief visual and auditory stimulus changes. High levels of stimulus control were obtained by food-presentation schedules only. Discriminative control by frequency or stimulus change was absent. Stimulus control by food frequency was decreased by the imposition of a delay period between the schedule sample and the choice. Moreover, stimulus control by food frequency was related to the ratio of food-presentation schedule pairs when novel schedules were presented in a transfer test.     

Pigeons' spatial memory: III. Effect of distractors on delayed matching of key location.

The effect of distractors on pigeons' delayed matching of key location was investigated. Baseline trials began with a "ready" stimulus (brief operation of the grain feeder). Then one (randomly chosen) key from a three-by-three matrix was lit briefly as the sample. After a short delay (retention interval) the sample key was lit again along with one of the other eight keys. A peck at the key that had served as the sample (correct comparison) produced grain reinforcement, whereas a peck to the other key (incorrect comparison) produced only the intertrial interval. In Experiment 1, a houselight distractor, presented during either the sample, retention interval, or choice phases of the trial, had little if any effect on accuracy of matching key location. In Experiment 2, one of three types of spatial stimuli was interpolated during the retention interval, or the interval was blank as during baseline trials. The three stimuli were: the sample (correct comparison) location for that trial, the incorrect comparison location for that trial, or one of the seven unused locations for that trial. Relative to blank trials, accuracy improved slightly on sample-interpolated trials, decreased slightly on unused location-interpolated trials, and decreased considerably on incorrect comparison-interpolated trials. In Experiment 3, retention intervals were blank or had one of six types of interpolation: the sample, the incorrect comparison, two presentations of the sample, two presentations of the incorrect comparison, the sample followed by the incorrect comparison, or the incorrect comparison followed by the sample.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A comparison of the effects of posted feedback and increased police surveillance on highway speeding

A counterbalanced, reversal design was used to compare the effectiveness of posted feedback and increased police surveillance in reducing speeding on two urban highways. Drivers' speeds were measured using a concealed radar unit. During public posting, a large highway sign, which listed the percentage of drivers not speeding during the preceding week and the best record to date, was erected on each street. Use of the feedback sign alternated with periods of baseline and periods of increased police surveillance and ticketing. During increased police surveillance, highly visible, stationary police radar patrols were established along the highways for either 30 min or 60 min per day, 5 days per week. Results indicated that although public posting was highly effective in reducing the percentage of speeding drivers, increased police surveillance was not. Thus, since the feedback sign required only 30 min per week to maintain, public posting was at least 10 times more efficient in controlling speeding than was police surveillance and ticketing.