Repetition and practice effects in a lexical decision task

Ss classified visually presented verbal units into the categories “in your vocabulary” or “not in your vocabulary.” The primary concern of the experiment was to determine if making a prior decision on a given item affects the latency of a subsequent lexical decision for the same item. Words of both high and low frequency showed a systematic reduction in the latency of a lexical decision as a consequence of prior decisions (priming) but did not show any reduction due to nonspecific practice effects. Nonwords showed no priming effect but did show shorter latencies due to nonspecific practice. The results also indicated that many (at least 36) words can be in the primed state simultaneously and that the effect persists for at least 10 min. The general interpretation was that priming produces an alteration in the representation of a word in memory and can facilitate the terminal portion of the memory search process which is assumed to be random.     

Structured system design: Analysis,design, and construction

A simple state-of-the-art systems/program design tool is described, demonstrated, and evaluated. The tool, the Warnier-Orr diagram, is derived from Boolean algebra and set theory and is a major analysis, synthesis, and documentation aid in Structured System Design (SSD), a current structured programming methodology. Proponents of SSD claim it provides a conceptual framework that facilitates writing programs that usually run the first time. Skeptics typically agree (eventually). Several sources of SSD information (articles, books, technical reports, etc.) are identified.     

Intellectual ability correlates of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale

The hypothesis that the Marlowe-Crowne Scale would be negatively related to a variety of intellectual ability measures was investigated in a sample of college students. As predicted, MC scores were negatively correlated with measures of intelligence (Quick Test), associational ability (Remote Associates Test), and academic achievement (course grades). These results suggest that the vulnerable self-esteem and defensiveness traditionally ascribed to high versus low MC scorers may at least in part, reflect a history of poorer performance in intellectual and academically related activities.