A new objectively scored version of the Defence Mechanism Test

Kragh's Defence Mechanism Test has proved its worth in a number of applied settings but has hitherto required skilled time-consuming interpretation. Two studies are reported which validate an "objectively scored" version of the test developed using G-analysis. In the first, it was found that this version of the test could successfully predict the performance of trainee pilots. The second study examined the construct validity of this version of the test. It was found that the predictive factor from Study I re-emerged within a sample of students, where it correlated positively with scores on a test of perceptual defence and the Shrewdness (N) scale of the 16PF, and negatively with two of the identification scales of the Defence Mechanism Test. This factor was tentatively identified as one of general defensiveness. It is concluded that this form of the test deserves consideration when selecting individuals for stressful occupations.     

Does Analytic Thinking Insulate Against Pro-Kremlin Disinformation? Evidence From Ukraine

Pro-Kremlin disinformation campaigns have long targeted Ukraine. We investigate susceptibility to this pro-Kremlin disinformation from a cognitive-science perspective. Is greater analytic thinking associated with less belief in disinformation, as per classical theories of reasoning? Or does analytic thinking amplify motivated system 2 reasoning (or “cultural cognition”), such that analytic thinking is associated with more polarized beliefs (and thus more belief in pro-Kremlin disinformation among pro-Russia Ukrainians)? In online (N = 1,974) and face-to-face representative (N = 9,474) samples of Ukrainians, we find support for the classical reasoning account. Analytic thinking, as measured using the Cognitive Reflection Test, was associated with greater ability to discern truth from disinformation—even for Ukrainians who are strongly oriented towards Russia. We find similar, albeit weaker, results when operationalizing analytic thinking using the self-report Actively Open-Minded Thinking scale. These results demonstrate a similar pattern to prior work using American participants. Thus, the positive association between analytic thinking and the ability to discern truth versus falsehood generalizes to the qualitatively different information environment of postcommunist Ukraine. Despite low trust in government and media, weak journalistic standards, and years of exposure to Russian disinformation, Ukrainians who engage in more analytic thinking are better able to tell truth from falsehood.     

Implicit Association Test (IAT) Studies Investigating Pitch-Shape Audiovisual Cross-modal Associations Across Language Groups

Previous studies have shown that Chinese speakers and non-Chinese speakers exhibit different patterns of cross-modal congruence for the lexical tones of Mandarin Chinese, depending on which features of the pitch they attend to. But is this pattern of language-specific listening a conscious cultural strategy or an automatic processing effect? If automatic, does it also apply when the same pitch contours no longer sound like speech? Implicit Association Tests (IATs) provide an indirect measure of cross-modal association. In a series of IAT studies, conducted with participants with three kinds of language backgrounds (Chinese-dominant bilinguals, Chinese balanced bilinguals, and English speakers with no Chinese experience) we find language-specific congruence effects for Mandarin lexical tones but not for matched sine-wave stimuli. That is, for linguistic stimuli, non-Chinese speakers show advantages for pitch-height congruence (high-pointy, low-curvy); no congruence effects were found for Chinese speakers. For non-linguistic stimuli, all participant groups showed advantages for pitch-height congruence. The present findings suggest that non-lexical tone congruence (high-pointy, low-curvy) is a basic congruence pattern, and the acquisition of a language with lexical tone can alter this perception.     

Continuous and discrete latent structure models for item response data

Relations are examined between latent trait and latent class models for item response data. Conditions are given for the two-latent class and two-parameter normal ogive models to agree, and relations between their item parameters are presented. Generalizationss are then made to continuous models with more than one latent trait and discrete models with more than two latent classes, and methods are presented for relating latent class models to factor models for dichotomized variables. Results are illustrated using data from the Law School Admission Test, previously analyzed by several authors.     

与立体视觉相关的视诱发电位研究

在微机上编制能产生动态随机点立体图（ＤＲＤＳ）,亮暗类棋盘格和随机点背景三种图形刺激的软件．记录了３４例正常人在这三种刺激下的ＶＢＰ．其结果为：（１）ＤＲＤＳ刺激下的ＶＥＰＮ１波潜伏期为２６５±２５ｍｓ,基波能量占总交流能量的６３．２±１８．９％．（２）亮暗类棋盘格刺激下的ＶＥＰＮ１波的潜伏期为１９０±２２ｍｓ,基波能量占总交流能量的３９．２±１９．６％．（３）随机点背景刺激下的ＶＥＰ波则为一些杂乱的小波．结果提示：动态ＲＤＳ刺激下的ＶＥＰ除在潜伏期方面具有特异性外,并在谐波的能量分布上也具有特异性,且客观性更强．根据这些特征有助于对立体视觉功能进行客观性评价．     

A selective and critical review of neuropsychological deficits and the frontal lobes

Presumptions about the functions of the frontal lobes, and the sensitivity and specificity of certain tests to measure frontal lobe functions, are having a substantial influence on both clinical and research conclusions. In this paper the authors examine the details of the studies that have contributed to these presumptions, and find that the evidence to support these conclusions is weak. A detailed evaluation of the evidence relating to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Thurstone Word Fluency Test is also presented. Finally, the development of the belief that frontal lobe functions can be specifically measured is reviewed. The authors of this paper conclude that the bewildering array of deficits attributed to frontal lesions still seems to prevail.     

Viewers prefer predictive cues

Devaluation-by-inhibition hypothesis demonstrated that previously ignored items are judged more negatively than previously attended and novel items. Based on this view, the present study investigated the evaluation of preceding stimuli that presumably elicit attentional processes to task-relevant stimuli. Accordingly, we employed a Posner-type cueing task followed by evaluation of the preceding cues indicating left and right directions. The important manipulation is predictability of two different preceding cues which predict the target location with high or with low probability. In Experiment 1 with two different arrows, a low predictive arrow was judged more negatively than a high predictive cue. Experiment 2 using gaze cues of two persons instead of two different arrows supported the findings of Experiment 1. These findings are consistent with devaluation-by-inhibition, suggesting that cue items triggering attention to the target are devaluated when they have less predictability.     

The Effect of Evidential Impact on Perceptual Probabilistic Judgments

In a series of three behavioral experiments, we found a systematic distortion of probability judgments concerning elementary visual stimuli. Participants were briefly shown a set of figures that had two features (e.g., a geometric shape and a color) with two possible values each (e.g., triangle or circle and black or white). A figure was then drawn, and participants were informed about the value of one of its features (e.g., that the figure was a “circle”) and had to predict the value of the other feature (e.g., whether the figure was “black” or “white”). We repeated this procedure for various sets of figures and, by varying the statistical association between features in the sets, we manipulated the probability of a feature given the evidence of another (e.g., the posterior probability of hypothesis “black” given the evidence “circle”) as well as the support provided by a feature to another (e.g., the impact, or confirmation, of evidence “circle” on the hypothesis “black”). Results indicated that participants’ judgments were deeply affected by impact, although they only should have depended on the probability distributions over the features, and that the dissociation between evidential impact and posterior probability increased the number of errors. The implications of these findings for lower and higher level cognitive models are discussed.     

Individual Differences in Categorization Gradience As Predicted by Online Processing of Phonetic Cues During Spoken Word Recognition: Evidence From Eye Movements

Recent studies have documented substantial variability among typical listeners in how gradiently they categorize speech sounds, and this variability in categorization gradience may link to how listeners weight different cues in the incoming signal. The present study tested the relationship between categorization gradience and cue weighting across two sets of English contrasts, each varying orthogonally in two acoustic dimensions. Participants performed a four-alternative forced-choice identification task in a visual world paradigm while their eye movements were monitored. We found that (a) greater categorization gradience derived from behavioral identification responses corresponds to larger secondary cue weights derived from eye movements; (b) the relationship between categorization gradience and secondary cue weighting is observed across cues and contrasts, suggesting that categorization gradience may be a consistent within-individual property in speech perception; and (c) listeners who showed greater categorization gradience tend to adopt a buffered processing strategy, especially when cues arrive asynchronously in time.