Prompt comprehension in UNIX command production

We hypothesize that a cognitive analysis based on the construction-integration theory of comprehension (Kintsch, 1988) can predict what is difficult about generating complex composite commands in the UNIX operating system. We provide empirical support for assumptions of the Doane, Kintsch, and Polson (1989, 1990) construction-integration model for generating complex commands in UNIX. We asked users whose UNIX experience varied to produce complex UNIX commands, and then provided help prompts whenever the commands that they produced were erroneous. The help prompts were designed to assist subjects with respect to both the knowledge and the memory processes that our UNIX modeling efforts have suggested are lacking in less expert users. It appears that experts respond to different prompts than do novices. Expert performance is helped by the presentation of abstract information, whereas novice and intermediate performance is modified by presentation of concrete information. Second, while presentation of specific prompts helps less expert subjects, they do not provide sufficient information to obtain correct performance. Our analyses suggest that information about the ordering of commands is required to help the less expert with both knowledge and memory load problems in a manner consistent with skill acquisition theories.     

Control of Psychological Testing: The Threat and a Response

Who has the right to use psychological tests? Until recently, most qualified professionals had access to these tests. The American Psychological Association (APA), however, has supported several legal interventions as well as legislation that would allow only licensed psychologists to use most psychological tests. The position of the Fair Access Coalition on Testing (FACT) is that the APA efforts will reduce needed services to the general public, violate existing professional policies of both the American Counseling Association and APA, initiate counterproductive turf wars, and turn existing collaboration among professional organizations into time-consuming, resource-devouring, nonproductive conflict. FACT's efforts to reaffirm its policy statement are outlined.     

Effects of a Private Room Versus Group Setting on Math Test Performance of College Students with ADHD

The effects of (a) private room, (b) typical classroom, and (c) high-distraction room test settings were examined on the math test performance of six college students (four females) with ADHD. Participants (aged 18–30 years) completed multiple, equivalent algebra calculation tests (100 items each) under the three test-setting conditions. A multi-element design was used to compare the number of items attempted (test access) and percentage correct (accuracy). Students also rated their level of distraction after each testing session on a Likert-type scale. Results showed that students found the high-distraction setting more distracting than other settings and that five of six students accessed more test items in the private room versus the high-distraction setting, with three of the six demonstrating nonoverlapping data across settings. A regular classroom setting did not produce a high level of distraction, nor did it restrict student access to the math tests relative to a private room setting. These findings suggest that some students with ADHD are affected negatively by highly distracting environments and may benefit from a quiet, private test setting. Single-case experimental designs may be useful for examining individual differences among students with disabilities receiving specific test accommodations.

     

Religiousness,spirituality, and eudaimonic and hedonic well-being

This study tested a conceptual model of religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and hedonic well-being (HWB; measured by life satisfaction and positive affect) by including eudaimonic well-being (EWB; measured by meaning in life) as a mediator. Given the multidimensionality of R/S, we examined whether and how the magnitudes of direct and indirect relationships varied for various aspects of R/S: organizational religious practices, private religious practices, daily religious/spiritual experiences, and subjective spirituality. Web survey data of 450 US American adults were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results showed that EWB partially mediated the relation of daily religious/spiritual experiences and HWB; however, the other three aspects of R/S had no indirect relationships with HWB. Additionally, private religious practices and subjective spirituality indicated negative direct relationships with HWB. Approximately 68% of the variance in HWB was accounted for by the variables included in this model. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Initial planning benefits complex prospective memory at a cost

The effect of initial planning on complex prospective memory was investigated using a virtual environment and a sample of healthy young adults (N?=?34). Participants were assigned to either an initial planning or a control condition and were asked to complete a series of time- and event-based prospective memory tasks. The planning group completed the tasks more quickly and accurately than the control group. However, the total time spent, including both planning and task execution, was comparable for the two groups. Within the planning group, tasks that were planned were more likely to be completed than unplanned tasks, but inclusion of overly detailed information in the plans resulted in poorer performance. These results suggest that although initial planning can be beneficial to task completion, the complexity of a plan may contribute to decrements in performance.     

Retention and transfer of morse code reception skill by novices: part-whole training

The training of composite skills requiring differential responding to a large set of stimuli raises issues about how to break down the whole task into parts and which parts should be trained first. Components of Morse code reception skill were identified, separated, and used to test whether initial training on a difficult part was more effective than initial training on an easy part. Initial training on a difficult subset of stimuli and on a difficult subtask both yielded disadvantages rather than the advantage implied by recent findings with different tasks. Incremental training should begin with the part yielding the most effective strategic skills, which appear to depend on characteristics of the task. In both present experiments, easy initial training led to adoption of an effective unitization strategy for representing codes. The hypothesis that procedural reinstatement at delayed testing leads to better retention was supported and extended.     

The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test as an Index of Emotional Disturbance in Children

Millon (1985) presented eight criticisms of the article by Widiger, Williams, Spitzer, and Frances (1985) on the MCMI as a measure of DSM-III. This article is a brief rejoinder. The major point we wish to make is that one should be cautious in interpreting the MCMI as a measure of DSM-III disorders because there has not yet been any research published on the relationship between the MCMI and DSM-III. We believe this position has not been refuted by Millon's critique.     

Finding the Right Value: Framing Effects on Domain Experts

By defining the essence of a policy problem, an issue frame shapes how individuals think about a political issue. In this research, we investigate framing effects among domain experts, an understudied yet increasingly important set of individuals in the policymaking process. Because domain experts have extensive and highly structured knowledge on a particular topic, they are likely to actively process issue frames to which they are exposed. Consequently, we hypothesize that frames consistent with experts' values will be particularly influential, whereas frames inconsistent with their values will lead to contrast effects. We test our hypotheses on a unique set of domain experts by examining professional farmers' attitudes toward no‐till agriculture. Using an experimental design, we find evidence that environmental values interact with frames to influence farmers' interest in no‐till, especially when farmers are exposed to a novel frame.