Understanding the central processing limit in consistent-mapping visual search tasks

Effects of load (i.e., the number of stimuli in the display) have been observed in multiple-frame studies using a consistent mapping of stimuli to responses (e.g., Fisher, 1982, 1984). In a series of four experiments, it is shown that these effects are not the consequence of differences across the high- and low-load conditions in either decision noise or peripheral masking. Additionally, it is shown that of two modes of limited capacity (a limited-channel and divided-capacity model) considered as possible explanations of load effects in tasks where subjects are required to locate a target, only one--the limited-channel model--is consistent with the results from all three location tasks. Finally, it is argued that the limited-channel model predicts not only the behavior observed in the four consistent-mapping experiments reported in this article but also the behavior observed in several related consistent-mapping tasks (Kleiss & Lane, 1986; Shiffrin & Gardner, 1972).     

Difference and ratio information in children's and adults' memory representations.

A study was made of the choice reaction times of 8-, 10-, 12-year-olds and adults in order to investigate whether length information stored in memory was coded to preserve numerical relations between stimuli. Subjects learned unique line length-color associations and were later presented with pairs of colors and were instructed to choose the color that had been associated with the longer line. For all age groups, choice reaction times were related to both differences and ratios. These results were interpreted as supporting the analog theory of representation.     

Reducing smoking among pregnant adolescents

Pregnant adolescents who smoke present a double obstetrical risk. Not only is the adolescent mother at risk from the biological, social, educational, and economic factors associated with childbearing at a young age, she and her developing infant also risk the complications associated with maternal smoking. This paper describes a psychosocial intervention designed to reduce smoking in a group of pregnant adolescents. Five modules are presented. Each is designed to: (1) heighten awareness of the issue, (2) provide motivational messages, (3) enhance the adolescent's social skills, and (4) teach specific smoking-cessation skills.     

Spiritual support for caregivers of dementia patients

Dementia is considered the major psychiatric disorder of old age and affects over 4 million people in the United States. As Alzheimer's disease and other dementias progress, the patient can become increasingly dependent on the family for care. This dependency can place the caregiver in a role that is both difficult and demanding. In this study coping strategies used by family caregivers of dementia patients and caregivers' sense of burden were assessed. Burden scores were significantly correlated with spiritual support, an external coping strategy. When spiritual well-being is integrated with medical and psychosocial needs, the clergy and spiritual community can play an integral role in the care for families and dementia patients.     

Context effects in episodic studies of verbal and facial memory: A review

Memory research has in the last fifteen years been marked by a considerable interest in context effects. This review begins by examining experimental manipulations of verbal and environmental context in verbal memory. This is followed by a more extensive review of episodic studies of face recognition that have examined the effects of varying the background in which a face is portrayed, the room of testing, and the presence of guided instructions. The relevance of these findings to eyewitness memory is also considered. Discrepancies in the literature are pinpointed with theoretical discussion centering around encoding specificity theory (Tulving & Thomson, 1973) and Baddeley and Woodhead’s (1982) distinction between “independent” (extrinsic) and “interactive” (intrinsic) context effects. The review ends with an evaluation of some recent models of memory and face recognition in an attempt to provide a framework within which to interpret the context effects in the literature.     

Phonological coding in word reading: Evidence from hearing and deaf readers

The ability of prelingually, profoundly deaf readers to access phonological information during reading was investigated in three experiments. The experiments employed a task, developed by Meyer, Schvaneveldt, and Ruddy (1974), in which lexical decision response times (RTs) to orthographically similar rhyming (e.g., WAVE-SAVE) and nortrhyming (e.g., HAVE-CAVE) word pairs were compared with RTs to orthographically and phonologically dissimilar control word pairs. The subjects of the study were deaf college students and hearing college students. In Experiments 1 and 2, in which the nonwords were pronounceable, the deaf subjects, like the hearing subjects, were facilitated in their RTs to rhyming pairs, but not to nonrhyming pairs. In Experiment 3, in which the nonwords were unpronounceable, both deaf and hearing subjects were facilitated in their RTs to both rhyming and nonrhyming pairs, with the facilitation being significantly greater for the rhyming pairs. These results indicate that access to phonological information is possible despite prelingual and profound hearing impairment. As such, they run counter to claims that deaf individuals are limited to the use of visual strategies in reading. Given the impoverished auditory, experience of such readers, these results suggest that the use of phonological information need not be tied to the auditory modality.     

Access to spoken language and the acquisition of orthographic structure: Evidence from deaf readers

Sensitivity to two types of orthographic structure was investigated: linguistically based orthographic regularity and summed single letter positional frequency. Deaf college students were found to make use of positional frequency information no less than hearing college students; however, the extent to which they made use of orthographic regularities in word recognition was related to their speech production skills. In one task, subjects were presented nonword letter strings for short durations, each followed by a masking stimulus and a target letter. They were asked to indicate whether or not the target had been present in the letter string. It was found that the accuracy of deaf subjects with good speech, like that of hearing subjects, was considerably greater for orthographically regular than irregular strings. In contrast, the accuracy of deaf subjects with poor speech was much less related to orthographic regularity. In a second task, in which subjects made judgements about how word-like various letter strings appeared, the judgements of the hearing subjects were more influenced by regularity than those of deaf subjects with poor speech. These results are discussed in terms of how expertise in speech relates to appreciation of orthographic regularity.     

A further validation of the bem sex role inventory: A multitrait-multimethod study

The present study used a multitrait-multimethod technique [D.T. Campbell and D. W. Fiske (1959) “Convergent and Discriminant Validation by the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix,” Psychological Bulletin, 56, 81–105] to examine Bem's [(1974) “The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 152–162] use of an instrumental-expressive dichotomy to conceptualize the Masculinity and Femininity scales of the Bem Sex Role Inventory as statistically orthogonal constructs. Results indicate that while perhaps reliable, masculinity and femininity lack clear convergent and discriminant validity. Therefore, Bem's contention that masculinity and femininity are orthogonal constructs is questioned. Results are discussed in light of trait- vs. method-driven research.     

Positive and Negative Hypothesis Testing by Cooperative Groups

In a rule induction problem positive hypothesis tests select evidence that the tester expects to be an example of the correct rule if the hypothesis is correct, whereas negative hypothesis tests select evidence that the tester expects to be a nonexample if the hypothesis is correct. Previous research indicates the general effectiveness of a positive test strategy for individuals, but there has been very little research with cooperative groups. We extend the analysis of Klayman and Ha (Psychological Review, 1987) of ambiguous verification or conclusive falsification of five possible types of hypotheses by positive and negative tests by emphasizing the importance of further examples following hypothesis tests. In two experiments four-person cooperative groups solved rule induction problems by proposing a hypothesis and selecting evidence to test the hypothesis on each of four arrays on each trial. In different conditions the groups were instructed to use different combinations of positive and negative tests on the four arrays. Positive tests were more likely to lead to further examples than negative tests, and the proportion of correct hypotheses corresponded to the proportion of positive tests, in both experiments. We suggest that positive tests are more effective than negative hypothesis tests in generating further evidence, and thus in inducing the correct rule, in experimental rule induction tasks with a criterion of certainty imposed by the researcher.