The boundaries of self face perception: Response time distributions,perceptual categories,and decision weighting

The current study uses an RT distribution analysis approach to examine the self-bias in face categorization. In two experiments we systematically manipulated the decision boundaries between the self, familiar, and unfamiliar others in face categorization tasks. For the first time in studies of self-categorization we estimated parameters from ex-Gaussian fits of reaction time distributions in order to capture the influence of different boundaries on the latency distribution of the categorization responses. The results showed that the distribution of responses to self faces was stable regardless of the face context and the task demands, and changes in context only shifted the response distribution in time. In contrast, varying the decisions with familiar and unfamiliar faces changed the shape of the RT distributions in addition to shifting RTs in time. The results indicate that, in contrast to our perception of familiar and unfamiliar faces of other people, self face perception forms a unique perceptual category unaffected by shifts in context and task demands.     

Sex Differences in Risk Taking: Repeated Sessions on a Computer-Simulated Task

Two experiments were conducted to investigate sex differences in risktaking behavior on a computer-generated and controlled task. Male and female subjects faced a video display of simulated mine fields with varying numbers and patterns of dots representing mines in the fields. In Experiment 1, they estimated the probability that a tank might successfully cross 100 mine fields when starting from an unknown point below each field. This was followed by the risk-taking task in which they decided whether to send a tank across each of the fields. The participants were tested on the risk-taking task once in Experiment 1 and over four separate sessions in Experiment 2. Scores, based on decision outcomes, and decision latencies were recorded. No significant sex differences were found in the participants' ability to estimate probabilities or in their total scores for decisions made on the risk-taking task. In low probability-of-success situations, women initially took greater risks than men but took longer to make their decisions; in all subsequent sessions, this pattern was reversed, with men taking greater risks and a longer time to make decisions. The findings support the growing body of evidence that men are more inclined to take risks than women in a variety of situations, indicate the importance of obtaining data over repeated sessions when investigating sex differences in risk taking, and demonstrate that computer-simulated tasks can provide a valid means for laboratory studies of sex differences in risk taking.     

An Analysis of Certain Effects of Bilateral Temporal Lobectomy in the Rhesus Monkey,with Special Reference to “Psychic Blindness”

Southern, black, poverty-level, female subjects were classified as Actives, Dropouts, or Never-Beens in regard to attendance at a family-planning clinic. The subjects took a story-telling test designed for lower social class subjects and rated a variety of persons and activities along semantic differential dimensions. Women who had dropped out were significantly lower than the other groups in their needs for achievement and for controlling life events. Actives perceived more difficulty in controlling events. Several significant differences were also found in the semantic differential ratings. The results can be interpreted to yield a consistent set of hypotheses about motivations related to birth control decisions.     

Factors Predicting Future Time Orientation for Romantic Relationships With the Opposite Sex

The author examines the possible connection of predictors of future time orientation to romantic relationships with the opposite sex using the Future Time Orientation in Romantic Relationships Scale (FTORR; B. Öner, 2000b). The variables suggested as correlates with FTORR scores in B. Öner's (2000a) study were subjected to regression analysis. The results indicated that relationship satisfaction and an eagerness to break up negative relationships were negatively related to FTORR scores, whereas being a woman, experiencing jealousy, and the degree of selectivity in choosing a dating partner were positively related to FTORR scores. Caution and relationship commitment both predicted FTORR scores through the mediating effect of relationship satisfaction. The author discusses the implications of the findings.     

At the Frontiers of Modeling Intensive Longitudinal Data: Dynamic Structural Equation Models for the Affective Measurements from the COGITO Study

With the growing popularity of intensive longitudinal research, the modeling techniques and software options for such data are also expanding rapidly. Here we use dynamic multilevel modeling, as it is incorporated in the new dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) toolbox in Mplus, to analyze the affective data from the COGITO study. These data consist of two samples of over 100 individuals each who were measured for about 100 days. We use composite scores of positive and negative affect and apply a multilevel vector autoregressive model to allow for individual differences in means, autoregressions, and cross-lagged effects. Then we extend the model to include random residual variances and covariance, and finally we investigate whether prior depression affects later depression scores through the random effects of the daily diary measures. We end with discussing several urgent—but mostly unresolved—issues in the area of dynamic multilevel modeling.     

Retention of a Time Pressure Heuristic in a Target Identification Task

S. Rice and D. Keller (2009) previously reported that participants who were put under time pressure tended to comply more with a diagnostic aid than participants who were not put under time pressure. The present study investigates whether or not learning the benefits of this time pressure heuristic carries over to a second session. Seventy-two New Mexico State University students performed a simulated target-detection task, assisted by a 95% reliable diagnostic aid. Participants were exposed to the following conditions, which were composed of two sessions: speeded–speeded, unspeeded–speeded, speeded–unspeeded, or unspeeded–unspeeded. Results showed that participants who completed the speeded condition for Session 1 performed just as well in the 2nd session regardless of whether or not they were put under time pressure. Participants found that complying with the aid was beneficial to overall performance and continued to comply in a 2nd session even when allowed more time to overrule the aid.     

Influence of Practice Schedule on Testing Schema Theory Predictions in Adults

Since the publication of Schmidt’s (1975) schema theory of motor learning, numerous studies have assessed the variability of practice hypothesis. Of these, only research using children as subjects has provided consistent results. Findings from adult studies have been equivocal. Two experiments were conducted to assess the possibility that the schedule of variable practice during acquisition may be a clue to this equivocality, since only experiments (using adults as subjects) that have provided random variability of practice conditions have consistently supported the tenets of schema theory. Using a two movement rapid timing task, subjects learned to control their actions under one (constant) or four (variable) parameters, with variable practice conducted under either a blocked or a randomized schedule. Results for variable error and absolute constant error showed that random-variable practice provided strong support for the schema theory prediction, whereas blocked-variable practice provided only relatively weak support. Two contrasting implications of these results are discussed with respect to support versus non-support for Schmidt’s schema theory.     

Interhemispheric Transfer Time in Sportsmen

The authors’ aim was to compare interhemispheric transfer time between 2 groups: highly skilled sportsmen and control subjects. Left- and right-handed individuals were included in the study. The Poffenberger paradigm was used to measure the crossed–uncrossed difference, representing the time to transfer information from one hemisphere to the other. No difference in laterality was found, but the results revealed a greater crossed–uncrossed difference in the skilled sportsmen than in the controls. The authors suggest that this may be due to more highly developed within-hemisphere integration of inputs and outputs, at the expense of cross-hemisphere integration.     

Task Difficulty and the Time Scales of Warm-Up and Motor Learning

The authors investigated the influence of task difficulty on warm-up decrement and learning across practice sessions. Three groups of participants practiced a star-tracing task over 3 consecutive days with different levels (e.g., easy, medium, hard) of task difficulty. The performance data were modeled with a 2 time scale function that represented the transient, fast time scale process of warm-up decrement superimposed with the persistent, slow time scale process of learning. Movement time decreased as a function of practice with the most difficult condition exhibiting the greatest reduction though still the longest movement time. The 2 time scale model provided a better fit to the data than an exponential or power law function and showed that the 3 difficulty conditions exhibited similar rates of change for the respective slow (i.e., learning) and fast (i.e., warm-up decrement) time scale processes that varied by an order of magnitude. Task difficulty was inversely related to the initial level of warm-up decrement but not the rate of performance recovery early in a practice session. The findings support the postulation that there is a persistent learned component to the initial conditions in subsequent practice sessions but that there is a common time scale of accommodating the transient process of warm-up decrement.     

Late reaction times identify MCI

A group of 172 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and 79 healthy control participants (HC) were tested on simple reaction time (SRT). There was a significant difference between MCI and HC in mean SRT. The test could be partitioned into five segments of 16 trials each, but RT's were not always available for each partition. However, scores from each segment for 166 MCI and 41 of the HC's were available. These data showed that a significant interaction between RT‐partition and diagnostic category was the main source of the difference between groups. The interaction indicated that MCI patients performed at about the same level as HC in the initial three of the five segments of the test, but were significantly impaired during the last two segments of the 80 trials. The results were interpreted as impaired sustained attention among a large part of the MCI group, and the study shows the importance of taking into account all avaliable data resulting from this type of test.