bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The benefits of physiological psychology
Authors: Boddy John
Published: April 2011

This article asserts that physiological psychology offers specific benefits to theoretical psychology and the real world and also contributes in a more diffuse manner to an integrated perspective of the nature of man. Theoretical topics covered are: perception, with particular reference to pattern recognition; parallel distributed processing; subconscious perception. Real‐world problems addressed are: the role of stress in illness; personality, learning and proneness to psychological disorder; the mechanisms of depression and anxiety. There is a brief discussion of eating disorders, sex, aggression, neuropsychology and the role of perceptual variety in brain development. It is argued that conversation between the physiological and psychological levels of explanation benefits theorizing at both levels.
Genetic and environmental mechanisms determining intelligence, neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism: An analysis of Irish siblings
Authors: Lynn Richard , Hampson Susan , Agahi Edwina
Published: April 2011

The theory that shared family environment has an effect on intelligence but no effect on personality was examined by a study of correlations between young adolescent Irish siblings for intelligence, neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism. The correlations obtained for 386 sibling pairs were 0.48 (intelligence), 0.06 (neuroticism), 0.31 (extraversion) and 0.14 (psychoticism). The correlation for IQ confirms the operation of both genetic and shared family effects on intelligence. The low correlations for neuroticism and psychoticism confirm the thesis that shared family effects have no influence on these traits. They are also inconsistent with an additive genetic model and suggest that non‐additive genetic mechanisms are present to make siblings so dissimilar. The higher sibling correlation for extraversion suggests that shared family environment does have some effect on this trait among young adolescents and is also consistent with an additive genetic model.
Human reactions to reward and punishment: A questionnaire examination of Gray's personality theory
Authors: Wilson Glenn D. , Barrett Paul T. , Gray Jeffrey A.
Published: April 2011

The development of the Gray‐Wilson Personality Questionnaire is described; this is an instrument designed to measure human equivalents of six animal behaviour paradigms ‐ Approach, Active Avoidance, Passive Avoidance, Extinction, Fight and Flight. Although these six scales showed satisfactory internal consistency they failed to link up into the three major systems suggested by Gray's personality theory. The strongest associations were between Fight and Approach and between Flight and Passive Avoidance. This raises questions as to how the neurological systems of activation, inhibition and fight/flight are related to human personality structure.
Tactile perceptual asymmetry: The influence of motor activity and imagery instructions
Authors: McFarland Ken , Ashton Roderick , Heath Genevieve
Published: April 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which changes in muscular activity modify tactile perceptual asymmetries. In two experiments subjects were presented with a series of pairs of random shapes to the fingers of each hand. Their task was to detect the occurrence of a previously learnt target shape. Pressing on to the shape was the only movement allowed and other types of motor activity, particularly tracing movements, were not permitted. Across experimental conditions subjects were required to change the pressure and hence muscular effort used to press upon the shape. A left‐hand advantage was found across all experimental conditions and its size did not change when subjects were required to press either firmly or lightly upon the shapes. This result was also found when subjects were required to apply uneven pressure between the hands. One‐half of the subjects also performed the experimental conditions following instructions to use imagery. This produced an enhancement of right‐hand performance on the task with a loss of the left‐hand advantage. The results suggest that observed tactile perceptual asymmetries, while unaffected by changes in muscular effort, are easily overridden by higher‐order cognitive and motor processes.
Individual differences in the effects of time of day and passage difficulty on prose memory in adults
Authors: Petros Thomas V. , Beckwith Bill E. , Anderson Maureen
Published: April 2011

The study under report examined the effects of time of day on prose recall in morning‐ and evening‐type individuals. Subjects listened to two easy and two difficult passages at either 09.00, 14.00 or 20.00. Immediately after listening to a taperecorded version of each story, subjects were asked to write their recalls. The results indicated that recall decreased across time of day for morning types but increased for evening types. The effects of importance level were similar for passages at both difficulty levels at all times of day; however, time‐of‐day effects were largest for highly important‐idea units from difficult passages.

The results demonstrated that time of day influences immediate recall of prose in adults, and the pattern of these effects depended upon whether the subject was a morning or evening type. It was suggested that subsequent examinations of time of day and prose memory should utilize concurrent measures of encoding effort to assess whether processing strategies change across time of day.
Recognition and recall of odours: The effects of suppressing visual and verbal encoding processes
Authors: Perkins Judith , Cook Neil McLaughlin
Published: April 2011

This study examines the effects on olfactory recognition and recall of the suppression of visual and verbal encoding processes. Subjects were allocated to one of four experimental conditions (no suppression, visual suppression, verbal suppression, and visual‐plus‐verbal suppression), presented with 15 target odours, and then tested for free recall or recognition of these odours, both within 10 minutes of presentation and one week later. Recall and recognition performance both showed a significant overall effect for level of suppression, with the ‘no‐suppression’ group performing best in each case. Recognition performance also showed a significant overall effect for time of testing. Methodological problems, and strategies for overcoming them, are discussed.
Understanding face recognition with an interactive activation model
Authors: Burton A. Mike , Bruce Vicki , Johnston Robert A.
Published: April 2011

In this paper we describe how the microstructure of the Bruce & Young (1986) functional model of face recognition may be explored and extended using an interactive activation implementation. A simulation of the recognition of familiarity of individuals is developed which accounts for a range of published findings on the effects of semantic priming, repetition priming and distinctiveness. Finally, we offer some speculative predictions made by the model, and point to an empirical programme of research which it suggests.
The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning new names
Authors: Gathercole Susan E. , Baddeley Alan D.
Published: April 2011

Correlational studies have suggested that immediate phonological memory, as measured by the capacity to repeat back non‐words varying in length, is associated with level of vocabulary in young children. The present study explores the possibility of a causal relationship between phonological memory and vocabulary acquisition by testing the abilities of children high and low in repetition performance to learn labels for unfamiliar toy animals. The low repetition children were found to be slower at learning phonologically unfamiliar names such as ‘Pimas’ for the toys, although there was no difference in learning speed for familiar names such as ‘Thomas’. The two groups also differed one day later in their retention of the labels that had initially been learned. These results suggest that immediate memory processes are directly involved in the learning of new vocabulary items in young children. The possible nature of the contribution of temporary phonological memory to vocabulary acquisition is discussed.
A ‘sheep‐goat effect’ in repetition avoidance: Extra‐sensory perception as an effect of subjective probability?
Authors: Brugger Peter , Landis Theodor , Regard Marianne
Published: April 2011

Performance on extra‐sensory perception (ESP) and on subjective random generation (SRG) has been shown independently to differ along a number of personality dimensions. One of the variables known consistently to influence ESP performance but not studied yet in SRG experiments is belief in the paranormal. We report three experiments on subjective randomness as a function of belief in ESP: (1) a retrospective analysis of randomness in multiple choice answers of a telepathy experiment revealed that believers in ESP (‘sheep’) avoided repetitive responses significantly more than non‐believers (‘goats’); (2) in an experiment where subjects had to produce random strings of the digits 1−6, sheep avoided repetitions significantly more than goats; (3) in an experiment where subjects had to compare equiprobable short random sequences, sheep underestimated the number of mathematically expected repetitions significantly more than goats.

In all three experiments a stronger bias against the incidence of direct repetitions was found for subjects believing in ESP than for those denying its possibility. This may indicate that believers are more prone to an illusion of causality in the face of everyday coincidences. We suggest that effects of subjective probability and, particularly, of subjective randomness should be considered in future studies concerned with individual differences in ESP scoring.
The minor events approach to stress: Support for the use of daily hassles
Authors: Chamberlain Kerry , Zika Sheryl
Published: April 2011

Everyday minor stressors (hassles) have been proposed as an alternative to major life‐events as a measure of stress. This article examines three aspects of hassles as a stress measure: group contextual differences in hassles reported, the stability and consistency of hassles over time, and the effectiveness of hassles in predicting adaptational outcomes. Results showed that there are clear contextual differences in hassles. Groups report quite different patterns of hassles reflecting their particular social contexts. These patterns also appear to be stable across time, probably as a result of consistency in both group roles and situational factors. Finally, hassles are found to be substantially better than life‐events in predicting psychological well‐being and mental health dimensions. Taken together, these findings support the use of hassles as a valid and reliable measure of stress which has significant relationships to important adaptational outcomes.
Categorical interference and associative priming in picture naming
Authors: La Heij Wido , Dirkx Jaap , Kramer Peter
Published: April 2011

The presence of a semantic relation between a context word and a target picture hampers picture naming in a picture‐word interference task, but seems to facilitate picture naming in a semantic priming task. This difference in the direction of the semantic context effect is investigated. Experiment 1 shows that stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) alone cannot account for the discrepancy. In Expts 2 and 3, in addition to SOA and category membership, the associative strength between the context word and the name of the target picture is manipulated. The results indicate the presence of two context effects that show different time courses: (1) a categorical interference effect that is only obtained with SOA values close to zero and (2) an associative facilitation effect that decreases with the time interval between context word and target picture and disappears with a small post‐exposure of the context word. As a consequence, a word like ‘dog’, that is both categorically related to the picture of a cat and associatively related to the word ‘cat’, facilitates picture naming at an SOA = −400, has no effect at SOA = 0, and hampers picture naming at SOA = + 75 ms. Implications of these findings for models of picture and word processing are discussed.
The influence of testosterone on human aggression
Authors: Archer John
Published: April 2011

Animal studies show clear evidence for a causal link between testosterone and aggression. This review assesses studies involving androgens, principally testosterone, and human aggression. Evidence for a possible effect of prenatal androgens is inconclusive. In adults, higher testosterone levels are found in groups selected for high levels of aggressiveness. Correlations between testosterone and aggression were low when hostility inventories were used, but higher (r = .38) when aggressiveness was rated by others. Regression analysis data and studies of boys at puberty were inconclusive. Other studies show that the outcome of aggressive and competitive encounters can alter testosterone levels, thus confounding interpretation of the correlational evidence. The design of future studies to reveal evidence of a causal link is considered. Suggestions concerning two important methodological problems, the experimental manipulation of hormone levels and the nature of the dependent variable, are made.
Investigating models of human performance
Authors: Rabbitt P. M. A. , Maylor E. A.
Published: April 2011

In Decision and Stress, Broadbent (1971) highlighted the deficiencies of steady‐state information‐processing systems and recommended a methodology for studying change and individual variability in human performance. Some implications of his approach are considered here by reviewing studies of the ways in which performance in choice reaction time, visual search and simple memory tasks is affected by individual differences in age and intelligence, by alcohol and by practice. The results are discussed in terms of the successes and limitations of five types of model: (1) ‘box‐and‐arrow’ information flow models, (2) ‘control‐process’ models, (3) algebraic models of decision latencies, (4) ‘single‐factor’ models derived from psychometrics, and (5) connectionist‐network models.
Individual differences in cognitive processes: Towards an explanation of schizophrenic symptomatology
Authors: Beech Anthony , McManus Denis , Baylis Gordon , Tipper Steven , Agar Kirsten
Published: April 2011

A study is reported that examined the relationship between a measure of schizophrenic‐like characteristics (schizotypy) in normal subjects and cognitive inhibition. Both repetitive and semantic measures of priming were used. It was found that low schizotypes showed negative priming (i.e. longer reaction times to the re‐presentation of initially ignored stimuli) while high schizotypes did not; high schizotypes exhibited semantic facilitation (i.e. shorter reaction times to previously ignored stimuli) but low schizotypes did not. A model is suggested, including both inhibitory and facilitatory processes, which can account for these findings. Theorizing about these processes is of interest as it may shed some light on the mechanisms involved in the specifically cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.
Differential survey response rates in right‐and left‐handers
Authors: Cornell Elizabeth , McManus I. C.
Published: April 2011

In a questionnaire survey of left‐handedness in a student population it is shown that left‐handers return questionnaires significantly more quickly than do right‐handers. Such differential responding may bias estimates of the rate of left‐handedness in the population.
Causal powers, causal questions, and the place of regularity information in causal attribution
Authors: White Peter A.
Published: April 2011

This article extends the causal powers theory of causal processing (White, 1989) by dealing with the use of regularity (e.g. covariation) information under the terms of the theory. The paper begins by arguing that regularity information is not basic to causal attribution because it is neither necessary nor sufficient for causal attribution. The type of information preferred for causal attribution, and the way in which it is used, are determined primarily by the type of causal question implicity or explicitly posed, in accordance with the constraint to provide something that counts as an answer to the question posed. Thus, types of regularity information are preferred for some types of causal question, specifically those referring to multiple occasions, but are not preferred for those referring to single occasions. Regularity information may still be used when preferred types of information are not available, and for two purposes: (i) ascertaining whether some thing or person has a certain causal power, and (ii) judging the strength of a power or a liability, when the effect to be explained concerns a relation between a power of one thing or person and a liability of another.
The general intelligence and spatial abilities of gifted young Belgian chess players
Authors: Frydman Marcel , Lynn Richard
Published: April 2011

Thirty‐three tournament‐level young Belgian chess players aged 8 to 13 were tested with the French WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) The mean full scale IQ = 121, verbal IQ = 109 and performance IQ = 129. The results suggest that a high level of general intelligence and of spatial ability are necessary to achieve a high standard of play in chess. The high spatial ability of these young chess players suggested by the high performance IQs may go some way towards explaining why males tend to be more numerous than females among high‐standard chess players.
Short‐term retention of spatial information
Authors: Smyth Mary M. , Pelky Pamela L.
Published: April 2011

Four experiments investigated the recall of a subspan set of spatial locations over short intervals of 5 and 15 s. The intervals were filled by one of three activities: simple tapping, repeated tapping at spatial targets and backwards counting. Spatial tapping, which decreases spatial memory span, led to further small but significant errors in recall, as did backward counting. These errors were larger than those found with simple tapping over the same intervals. Backwards counting led to further decreases in recall performance if it was also present during encoding, but this was not the case for spatial tapping. Spatial tapping had little effect on recall of three digits, whereas backwards counting had a large effect, which was much larger than that found with spatial memory items in any condition. The results are interpreted in terms of the use of place‐keeping functions in spatial memory sequences, which may not be specific to spatial material.
Phonological priming of lexical retrieval in speech production
Authors: Collins Alan F. , Ellis Andrew W.
Published: April 2011

We report a series of three experiments exploring phonological priming effects in speech production. In all cases, subjects repeated aloud auditorily presented primes and then named picture targets. Experiment 1 showed that targets were named faster when prime and target shared phonemes but only when these occupied the same word or syllabic positions. Experiment 2 showed that the degree of facilitation was unaffected by the lexicality of the prime or whether shared phonemes occurred early or late in the syllable. Experiment 3 examined the effect of the lexicality of the prime at different intervals between response and prime in an attempt to tease apart contributions to the effect from automatic and strategic processes. The results are considered in relation to current accounts of lexical retrieval.
Effects of mood manipulation and anxiety on performance of an emotional Stroop task
Authors: Richards Anne , French Christopher C. , Johnson Wendy , Naparstek Jennifer , Williams Jane
Published: April 2011

In Study 1 subjects high and low in trait anxiety were asked to identify the colour of anxiety‐related, anxiety‐matched neutral, happiness‐related and happiness‐matched neutral words. There were two types of stimulus presentation: blocked trials, where stimuli were blocked with respect to their valence, and mixed trials, where stimuli were mixed with respect to their valence. Subjects high in trait anxiety took longer to identify the colour of anxiety‐related compared to matched neutral words for blocked‐trial presentation only. In Study 2 subjects were exposed to either a positive or a negative mood‐manipulation followed by a mixed‐trial Stroop task. The mood manipulation procedure was successful in producing predicted changes in self‐reported state anxiety. Analyses showed that high‐trait‐anxiety subjects exhibited interference effects consistent with the induced mood. No such effects were observed for the low‐trait‐anxiety subjects.
On what intelligence is
Authors: Howard Robert W.
Published: April 2011

Despite much controversy over the exact definition of intelligence, most researchers agree that it is a concept labelled by a word, or even several related concepts labelled by a word. The present study applies recent theorizing about the nature of concepts in general to clarify the notion (or notions) of intelligence. This theorizing defines a concept as a person's unique and individual information about a category and a category as a set of things in the world. An example of a concept/category pair is ‘dog’, with the category being the set of all dogs and an individual's concept of dog being his or her personal knowledge of dogs. This knowledge can be used to place things in or out of the category. Different individuals may have somewhat different knowledge about the same category and a single word may label several different concept/category pairs. A concept of intelligence thus consists of information about a general category labelled by the word ‘intelligence’. This study analyses three major concept/category pairs of ‘intelligence’: (1) Spearman's g; (2) intelligence as a property of behaviour; and (3) intelligence as a set of abilities. Each concept contains different information, refers to a different category, and should be used in different ways. Several recurrent issues, such as whether the word ‘intelligence’ refers to a thing and what things are intelligent (e.g. animals, computers), can be resolved by considering each issue in relation to these concept/category pairs. For instance, the word ‘intelligence’ refers to a thing only if one uses the g concept. Similarly, only humans are intelligent according to the g concept but animals and computers may be considered intelligent if the other concepts are applied. Recent theorizing on the nature of concepts can be used to clarify other important psychological notions.
Mild social deviance, Type‐A behaviour pattern and decision‐making style as predictors of self‐reported driving style and traffic accident risk
Authors: West Robert , Elander James , French Davina
Published: April 2011

A 10‐item self‐report scale for mild social deviance (the Social Motivation Questionnaire) was developed and used in a study examining the role of social deviance in traffic accident risk. The scale focused on self‐serving behaviours which might directly or indirectly harm the interests of others. Data were obtained from 108 drivers taking part in a research programme examining a range of factors underlying traffic accident risk. Apart from social deviance scores, measures were taken of Type‐A behaviour pattern, decision‐making style, self‐reported driving style, age, sex, annual mileage, and accidents over a three‐year period. The results indicated that the social deviance scale yielded a good spread of values and had adequate intra‐scale reliability. Social deviance was positively correlated with accident rates independently of age, sex and annual mileage. The association between social deviance and accident rates appeared to be partly mediated by faster driving speed. The results indicate that, even within the general population, social deviance can show measurable variation and that this variation is predictive of traffic accident risk.
Exploring the limits of optimism: The case of smokers' decision making
Authors: McKenna F. P. , Warburton D. M. , Winwood M.
Published: April 2011

Smokers consider themselves less likely than others to contract smoking‐associated diseases. This result has been interpreted as a weak form of irrationality. Alternatively, it can be interpreted as indicating that smokers show an optimism bias. The optimism explanation was examined by having smokers and non‐smokers rate the likelihood of future negative events falling into three categories: (1) smoking associated, (2) health related and (3) health unrelated. Subjects rated their likelihood of the event happening to (1) themselves, (2) the average smoker and (3) the average non‐smoker. Smokers and non‐smokers rated their own likelihood of negative events as less than for the average smoker and the average non‐smoker. But, while smokers rated their own risk as higher for both smoking‐associated and other health‐related problems, they rated their own risk as lower than the average smoker, a standard optimism bias.
The personality of fantasy game players
Authors: Douse Neil A. , McManus I. C.
Published: April 2011

Players of a fantasy Play‐By‐Mail game were compared with matched controls on personality measures of decision‐making style, sex‐role, extraversion, neuroticism, empathy, leisure interests and personality type. Most players were male. On the Bem Sex‐Role Inventory the players were less feminine and less androgynous than controls. They were more introverted, showed lower scores on the scale of empathic concern, and were more likely to describe themselves as ‘scientific’, and to include ‘playing with computers’ and ‘reading’ amongst their leisure interests than controls.
The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire as a predictor of facial recognition memory performance
Authors: McKelvie Stuart J.
Published: April 2011

After viewing 27 upright photographs of faces, 94 subjects took a forced‐choice recognition memory test in which the pairs were shown either upright (N = 54) or inverted (N = 40), then completed Marks' (1973) Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Although groups of 12 good and 12 poor visualizers representing the lower and upper 30 per cent of VVIQ scores were less accurate, slower to respond and less confident for inverted than upright faces, VVIQ status did not interact with the effect of inversion. However, good visualizers were more confident than poor visualizers, and VVIQ scores themselves were lower (indicating more vivid reports) in the upright than in the inverted condition. It was also found that VVIQ scores were lower for more than for less confident subjects, but only for those who were less accurate. These results contradict the hypothesis that the VVIQ reflects holistic processing, but support the hypothesis that it is contaminated by an instrument factor. It is suggested that studies with the VVIQ should be designed to avoid cueing effects of the criterion task, and that the VVIQ should be accompanied by a test of general processing capacity to identify subjects whose responses might be contaminated by confidence.
Boredom effects on sleepiness/alertness in the early afternoon vs. early evening and interactions with warm ambient temperature
Authors: Mavjee V. , Home J. A.
Published: April 2011

During the usual waking day there is a circadian propensity for sleepiness in the early afternoon. This contrasts with the circadian peak of alertness in the early evening. The former is apt to be masked by various exogenous factors. Alertness was compared at these times of day (‘afternoon’: 1200–1600 hours and ‘evening’: 1800–2200 hours) under contrasting environmental conditions: boring vs. stimulating (‘interest’) × warm vs. cool ambient environment (‘temperature’); making four combinations, with two times of day—i.e. eight independent conditions, each containing six subjects (N = 48). The emphasis of the study was to make the conditions ‘natural’ and not unpleasant—e.g. the environmental temperatures were not extreme and kept within a comfortable range. All conditions were run in a climatic chamber. Alertness was measured by reaction times and subjective sleepiness scales. Heart rate and body temperature were monitored continuously. Apart from time of day, ‘interest’ exerted a powerful effect that was significant for all variables, and was particularly potent in the afternoon. By comparison, the ‘temperature’ effects were minor. For our subjects the afternoon ‘dip’ centred between 1500 and 1530 hours, and displayed bicircadian characteristics.
Reconstructing selves: An analysis of discrepancies between women's contemporaneous and retrospective accounts of the transition to motherhood
Authors: Smith Jonathan A.
Published: April 2011

This paper empirically examines the notion of self‐reconstruction. Accounts of personal identity were obtained from women at four time points during the transition to motherhood. The study compares the women's accounts of pregnancy recorded in real‐time with those obtained retrospectively – after the child's birth, and looks for discrepancies between them.

The women's retrospective records of pregnancy point to a number of reconstructive narratives: glossing over difficulties, emphasizing personal growth, highlighting continuity of self, sometimes combining different narratives within the same retrospective report. The findings are theorized in terms of the notion of self‐reconstruction, whereby it is argued individuals modify their biographical presentations in order to produce self‐enhancing personal accounts. It is suggested that cognitive, motivational and rhetorical factors all play a part in this process.
Beyond sex differences in visuo‐spatial processing: The impact of gender trait possession
Authors: Hamilton Colin J.
Published: April 2011

Much research has emphasized the presence of sex differences in visuo‐spatial processes while neglecting individual differences in performance within the two sexes (Archer, 1987). The present study looks beyond sex differences and considers the association of self‐perceived gender trait possession with performance in two visuo‐spatial tasks. The findings indicate that, in a 3‐D mental rotation task, where a substantial sex difference occurred, gender trait possession adds significantly to the overall explanation of performance, the important gender trait variable being a measure of androgyny. With the Group Embedded Figures Task, gender trait measures were the only significant variables in differentiating performance, in this case masculinity was the important gender trait variable. The implication of such results for conventional explanations of individual differences in visuo‐spatial processing is discussed.
Teaching by examples: The case of number series
Authors: Kareev Yaakov , Avrahami Judith
Published: April 2011

Subjects' performance in Wason's rule discovery task has long been known to deviate from the norms advocated by philosophers of science. For a better understanding of people's rule discovery behaviour we employed a teaching‐by‐ examples paradigm, in which subjects were told to generate examples in order to teach someone else a rule. Subjects were aware of the rule and of the tutee's hypothesis; it was therefore possible to classify each example they provided as either a positive or a negative instance of the rule, and as either a confirmation or a refutation of the tutee's hypothesis. The set‐theoretical relationship between the tutee's hypothesis and the actual rule (embedded, surrounding) was manipulated in order to assess subjects' use of different types of disconfirmation. The task was arranged in such a way that the discrepancy between the tutee's hypothesis and the actual rule in the embedded and the surrounding conditions consisted of an identical set. The results (N = 96) revealed a high incidence of negative instances and of disconfirmations. Disconfirmations were more readily provided in the embedded condition (through negative tests of the hypothesis, using positive examples of the rules) than in the surrounding condition (through positive tests, using negative examples), thus lending support to positivity bias theory (Evans, 1989). The results indicate that subjects' poor performance in rule discovery tasks does not stem from inability to appreciate or use disconfirmations and negative examples, but from failure to consider alternatives.
Development of face recognition
Authors: Chung Myung‐Sook , Thomson Donald M.
Published: April 2011

In this article, research findings from studies which have examined the developmental pattern for recognition of unfamiliar faces and relevant theories are reviewed. Recognition of faces was found to improve with age from about five years to adulthood, with some studies reporting a dip during early adolescence. Two neuropsychological explanations (development of hemisphere specialization and maturational changes) and four information processing explanations (depth of face processing, pattern of feature salience, development of face schema, and encoding shift) are described and assessed for their tenability in light of reported findings. Explanations for the developmental dip are also discussed. Since these explanations failed to receive sufficient empirical support, an alternative explanation in terms of increasing efficiency of encoding is proposed.
Recalling pseudo‐psychic demonstrations
Authors: Wiseman Richard , Morris Robert L.
Published: April 2011

This paper describes two experiments which investigate how believers in the paranormal (labelled ‘Sheep’) and disbelievers (labelled ‘Goats’) recall different aspects of pseudo‐psychic demonstrations (i.e. conjuring tricks that can be misinterpreted as genuine psychic phenomena). In both experiments subjects were first shown a videotape containing pseudo‐psychic trickery. They were then asked to rate the ‘paranormal’ content of the videotape and complete a set of recall questions. Subjects were then told that the videotape contained magic tricks, and asked to complete a second set of recall questions. The recall questions contained information both ‘important’ and ‘unimportant’ to the method of the tricks. Overall, the results suggested that (i) Sheep displayed a slight tendency to rate the demonstrations as more ‘paranormal’ than Goats, (ii) initially Goats tended to recall significantly more ‘important’ information than Sheep and that, (iii) even when told that the videotape contained trickery, Goats tended to recall more ‘important’ information than Sheep (but only after Sheep had lost access to ‘surface’ memory for the videotape). Suggestions for improved methodology are given, along with proposals for future work in this area.
Topographical distribution of EEG activity accompanying visual and motor imagery in vivid and non‐vivid imagers
Authors: Marks David F. , Isaac Anne R.
Published: April 2011

Brain mapping techniques were used to investigate the topographical distribution of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity accompanying visual and motor imagery in four different tasks. Participants were selected for their self‐reported vivid or non‐vivid imagery using the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) and the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire (VMIQ). Topographical maps of EEG activation revealed that alpha power was attenuated in vivid images during visual imagery, particularly in the left posterior quadrant of the cortex, but enhanced during motor imagery. The imagery vividness variable interacted with experimental condition or with experimental condition and location in all four tasks. Because demand characteristics and instrument artifacts can be eliminated as possible explanations of the results, these data provide strong evidence of the construct validity of the VVIQ and VMIQ as measures of visual and motor imagery experience.
Learning during anaesthesia: A review
Authors: Andrade Jackie
Published: April 2011

Can learning occur during general anaesthesia? This paper reviews the studies which have addressed this issue and finds some evidence of implicit memory for intra‐operative events, even with clinically adequate anaesthesia. This has implications both for clinical practice and for psychological theories of learning and awareness. However, since many of the studies have been opportunistic, neither the anaesthetic techniques nor the paradigms used to assess memory have been standardized. Methodological improvements are discussed, in particular the need for a reliable means of monitoring awareness during anaesthesia. These improvements would enable researchers to determine the conditions under which learning occurs and would provide information about the role of consciousness in learning.
Impulsivity and negative priming: Evidence for diminished cognitive inhibition in impulsive children
Authors: Visser Mechteld , Das‐Smaal Edith , Kwakman Hans
Published: April 2011

This study addresses the relationship between impulsivity and lack of inhibition. Inhibition was measured both by the interference score and by the negative priming effect in a Stroop colour‐word paradigm. The negative priming effect in this paradigm is defined by slower naming of a target colour if this colour was the distractor in the immediately preceding trial.

For the study, a total of 210 school children were selected. These were children rated high or low by their teachers for either social or cognitive impulsivity. A reduced negative priming effect showed up with social type but not with cognitive type impulsive children. No differences were found regarding the Stroop interference score. The divergence between negative priming and interference as a measure of inhibition was discussed. Overall, the findings corroborate the distinction between a cognitive and a social dimension of impulsivity.
Deciding before you think: Relevance and reasoning in the selection task
Authors: Evans Jonathan St B. T.
Published: April 2011

Two experiments are reported in which subjects are asked to solve various versions of the Wason selection task. The task involves deciding whether or not to pick any of four cards which may be turned over in order to test the truth of a conditional statement. Each experiment employed a novel methodology in which subjects recorded the amount of time they spend considering a card prior to either choosing or not choosing it. Problems were computer presented and subjects were required to point with a mouse at any card which was the card they were currently considering but only to click the mouse button if they were sure they wanted to select it. The total ‘inspection time’ was logged by the computer for each card (recording stopped if the card was selected).

According to the Evans' (1984, 1989) theory of reasoning, card choices on the selection task are determined by preconsciously cued relevance. As predicted from this theory, cards with higher selection frequencies also had longer inspection times in all experiments. It was also shown that for any given card on a particular rule, the subjects who chose the card spent much longer inspecting it than the subjects who did not. The results are discussed with respect to the issue of whether decision making is in general consequential, i.e. based upon an analysis of the consequences of choices.
Effects of visual and verbal interference tasks on olfactory memory: The role of task complexity
Authors: Annett Judith M. , Leslie Julian C.
Published: April 2011

Recent studies have demonstrated that visual and verbal suppression tasks interfere with olfactory memory in a manner which is partially consistent with a dual coding interpretation. However, it has been suggested that total task complexity rather than modality specificity of the suppression tasks might account for the observed pattern of results. This study addressed the issue of whether or not the level of difficulty and complexity of suppression tasks could explain the apparent modality effects noted in earlier experiments. A total of 608 participants were each allocated to one of 19 experimental conditions involving interference tasks which varied suppression type (visual or verbal), nature of complexity (single, double or mixed) and level of difficulty (easy, optimal or difficult) and presented with 13 target odours. Either recognition of the odours or free recall of the odour names was tested on one occasion, either within 15 minutes of presentation or one week later. Both recognition and recall performance showed an overall effect for suppression nature, suppression level and time of testing with no effect for suppression type. The results lend only limited support to Paivio's (1986) dual coding theory, but have a number of characteristics which suggest that an adequate account of olfactory memory may be broadly similar to current theories of face and object recognition. All of these phenomena might be dealt with by an appropriately modified version of dual coding theory.
Inter‐trial interval, stimulus duration and number of trials in contingency judgments
Authors: Mercier Pierre , Parr Wendy
Published: April 2011

A contingency judgment is an assessment of the degree of covariation between two events such as a predictor and an outcome. Most studies of contingency judgment have tried to elucidate the mechanism underlying our sensitivity to covariations by measuring judgment accuracy for various contingencies. However, few studies have measured how judgment accuracy is affected by the processing requirements of a given task (e.g. speed of execution, amount of information). Schustack (1988), Kao & Wasserman (1993, Expt 2) and Ward & Jenkins (1965) have reported less accurate judgments when participants experienced the covariation trial‐by‐trial (on‐line) rather than globally, via a summary table or a short story (off‐line). Arkes & Harkness (1983) and Shaklee & Mims (1986) have suggested that on‐line information increases ‘memory load’ and causes people to use less sophisticated judgment strategies. The current experiment explored processing requirements defined in terms of speed of execution and amount of information. The participants played a game in which they assessed the relative safety of a tank in its target colour as opposed to its baseline colour. They were exposed to series of 8, 32 or 40 trials, on‐line, with inter‐trial intervals (ITIs) of 50, 200 or 1000 ms, stimulus durations of 50 or 200 ms, and contingencies of +50, 0 or −50. Contingencies were well discriminated but judgment accuracy declined towards zero with smaller samples, shorter durations and shorter ITIs. Since shorter ITIs and durations did not interact with number of trials, and since accuracy was less with the smaller number of trials, it appears that the detrimental effects are related more to a decrease in processing time than to an increase in the amount of information to be remembered. A working‐memory/associative model (Wagner, 1981) can best account for these results.
Further evidence on dimensionality and correlates of the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire
Authors: Larson Gerald E. , Alderton David L. , Neideffer Matthew , Underhill Eliot
Published: April 2011

Using data from 2379 American Navy recruits, the present study examined several issues related to interpretation and use of the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), including dimensionality, relationships with actual mishaps, and the relationship to handedness. With regard to dimensionality, evidence suggests that the CFQ measures only two replicable factors, a dominant ‘general cognitive failures’ factor and a minor name‐processing factor. The analysis of actual mishaps suggests a linkage between high CFQ scores and accidents, a finding in agreement with other research showing that many accidents result from distractibility, poor selective attention and mental error. Other results indicate that, although both CFQ scores and accident rates are elevated in left‐handers, a causal linkage cannot be inferred.
Coping style and situational appraisals as predictors of coping strategies following stressful events in sport as a function of gender and skill level
Authors: Anshel Mark H. , Kaissidis Angelo N.
Published: April 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine links between coping style, situational appraisals and the subsequent use of coping strategies in response to acute stress among competitive Australian basketball players (N = 190, 93 men and 97 women, ranging in age from 18 to 44 years). Regression analyses indicated that participants' approach and avoidance coping responses varied across four sport‐related stressful situations. In addition, both personal and situational factors accounted for significant variation in players' approach coping responses, with situational factors better predictors of approach coping than personal dispositions. For avoidance coping, situational appraisals (i.e. perceived stress and controllability) were again better predictors than personal dispositions. The results lend credence to the interactional (contextual) model of coping in which participants' use of coping strategies is at least a partial function of situational demands.
On statistical testing in psychology
Authors: Macdonald Ranald R.
Published: April 2011

This paper argues that a Fisherian approach to statistical inference, which views statistical testing as determining the chance probability of an event, is coherent, consistent with modern statistical methods and forms a sound theoretical basis for the use of statistical tests in psychology. It is argued that Fisherian statistical tests are concerned with establishing the direction of tested effects, give rise to confidence intervals and are quite consistent with power analyses. Researchers are encouraged to report chance probabilities, and to interpret them according to the prevailing conditions rather than using a fixed decision rule. The contrasting Neyman–Pearson approach, which views statistical testing as a quality control procedure for accepting hypotheses, posits unreasonable research practices which psychologists do not and should not be expected to follow. Neyman–Pearson theory has caused confusion in the psychological literature and criticisms have been levelled at statistical testing in general that ought to have been directed specifically at Neyman–Pearson testing. Statistical inference, of any sort, is held to be insufficient to characterize the process of testing scientific hypotheses. Data should be seen as evidence to be used in psychological arguments and statistical significance is just one measure of its quality. It restrains researchers from making too much of findings which could otherwise be explained by chance.
The role of habituation in the disruption of recall performance by irrelevant sound
Authors: Jones Dylan M. , Macken William J. , Mosdell Nicholas A.
Published: April 2011

A series of experiments explored the possibility that the pattern of disruption of recall performance by irrelevant sound reflects the process of habituation. Each of three experiments contrasted the action of three auditory conditions: steady state (repeated word sequence) speech, changing state (changing word sequence) speech and quiet. If treatments were changed on a trial‐to‐trial basis, differences between steady state, changing state and quiet were relatively steady over successive trials (Expt 1). A similar pattern emerged even when the auditory conditions were blocked (Expt 2). Prior passive exposure to sound for 20 minutes failed to diminish the impact of sound relative to quiet (Expt 3). The results converge to illustrate that the effects of irrelevant sound are enduring and that they do not diminish with exposure, suggesting that habituation‐based explanations are probably inappropriate.