bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Nucleus Basalis Magnocellularis Lesions in Rats on Delayed Matching and Non‐Matching to Position Tasks
Authors: Dunnett Stephen B. , Rogers Derek C. , Jones Graham H.
Published: April 2006

The effects of quisqualic acid lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis on short‐term memory capacities of the rat have been investigated using the delayed matching and non‐matching to position tasks. The lesions do not disrupt performance of either task by pretrained animals, but do disrupt the ability to acquire the non‐matching contingency, and to reverse to the non‐matching task when trained on the matching task. The unidirectional nature of the reversal deficit has been replicated. The generalized disruption of performance of either task by the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine was comparable in lesioned and control rats. The lesions were associated with extensive loss of acetylcholinesterase staining in the basal forebrain and in the neocortex, and 55% depletions of choline acetyltransferase activity in the neocortex but not in the hippocampus. These observations demonstrate that the cholinergic projection from nucleus basalis to the neocortex is not critical for normal short‐term memory, but that lesions involving this system do disrupt specific types of conditional discrimination learning.
Effect of Peripheral Axotomy on Expression of Neuropeptide Y Receptor mRNA in Rat Lumbar Dorsal Root Ganglia
Authors: Zhang X. , Wiesenfeld‐Hallin Z. , Hökfelt T.
Published: April 2006

Using in situ hybridization, the expression of the mRNA for a neuropeptide Y (NPY) receptor, was studied in lumbar (L) 4 and 5 dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) of normal rats and at various intervals after unilateral sciatic nerve transection. Twenty percent of all normal DRG neurons were NPY receptor mRNA‐positive, and the majority of these neurons were of the small type, with only a few labelled medium‐sized and large neurons. In L5 normal ganglia NPY receptor mRNA colocalized with substance P, calcitonin gene‐related peptide and galanin mRNAs in small neurons, but not in medium‐sized or large neurons containing these peptides. NPY receptor mRNA was not observed in somatostatin or nitric oxide synthase mRNA‐positive neurons. Sciatic nerve transection induced a marked decrease in NPY receptor mRNA levels. However, in parallel there was a transient increase in the number of NPY receptor mRNA‐positive small neuron profiles, but the intensity of labelling was mostly very low, although a few strongly labelled, small neuron profiles were also encountered. In addition, axotomy caused a marked increase in the number of NPY receptor mRNA‐positive large neuron profiles in the ipsilateral DRGs, and they constituted 15–20% of counted DRG neuron profiles and 45–65% of counted large neuron profiles, 7–28 days after axotomy. In L5 DRGs, ipsilateral to the axotomy, NPY receptor mRNA colocalized with NPY mRNA in many large and some medium‐sized neuron profiles, with galanin mRNA in some small, medium‐sized and large neuron profiles and with vasoactive intestinal polypeptide mRNA in some small and medium‐sized neuron profiles and a few large profiles. Occasionally, NPY receptor mRNA was observed in nitric oxide synthase mRNA‐positive small neurons. In the dorsal horn, NPY receptor mRNA‐positive small neurons were concentrated in lamina II at L4 and L5 levels, and were scattered in deeper laminae. No marked changes were observed ipsilateral to the axotomy. No NPY receptor mRNA‐positive cells were found in the normal rat gracile nucleus, or in this nucleus after axotomy. These results show that a NPY receptor may be a prejunctional receptor in primary afferent neurons and play a role in the modulation of somatosensatory information, both in normal and lesioned primary afferent DRG cells. However, axotomy induced a distinct shift in NPY receptor mRNA expression from small to large neurons, indicating that sensitivity to NPY is switched from one modality to another. Thus, not only several sensory neuropeptides, as shown in previous studies, but at least also one of the peptide receptors change their expression dramatically in response to axotomy, suggesting complex adaptive responses.
Developmental Organization, Stress, and Illness
Authors: Lewis Michael , Thomas David A. , Worobey John
Published: April 2006

The link between behavioral responsiveness to stress and subsequent health has been demonstrated in adults but not in infants and very young children. The ability of infants to suppress responding to acutely painful events was examined both as a function of neonatal status and as a predictor of incidence of illness at 18 to 24 months. Responding to stress in early infancy was predictive of later health but the nature of the relation depended on the maturity of the child.
Training in Psychology in the United States
Authors: Rosenzweig Mark R.
Published: April 2006

Psychologists abroad often ask about the system of training psychologists in the United States, as if the United States had a formal system laid down by the government or by a centralized educational authority, as is the case in many other countries. This article was originally drafted to provide information to psychologists abroad about the diversity and variety of training in the U.S., but it is published here in the hope that it will also be informative and interesting to American psychologists as well as to our colleagues in other countries.
An Audience Effect on Smile Production in 10-Month-Old Infants
Authors: Jones Susan Scanlon , Collins Kimberly , Hong Hye-Won
Published: April 2006

This report presents evidence that smile production in 10-month-old infants is affected by the presence or absence of an audience for the facial display. The audience effect does not appear to be mediated by emotion. The evidence indicates that the production of facial expressions is at least partly independent of emotion and partly dependent on a social-communicative context from a very early age.
Reducing the Expression of Racial Prejudice
Authors: Blanchard Fletcher A. , Lilly Teri , Vaughn Leigh Ann
Published: April 2006

We conducted two experiments designed to evaluate the effects of normative influence on reactions to racism. The current problem of racism on college campuses provided the context for these studies. We found that exposure to strongly antiracist normative influence induced the expression of more strongly antiracist opinions, regardless of the number of influencing agents and regardless of whether persons expressed their opinions publicly or privately, than occurred following exposure to normative influence reflecting strong acceptance of racism. Overhearing others voice opinions that reflect strong acceptance of racism led persons to express less strongly antiracist opinions than when no influence was exerted.
Cross-Modal Repetition Effects on the N4
Authors: Domalski Patricia , Smith Michael E. , Halgren Eric
Published: April 2006

Event related brain potentials (ERP) were recorded from 12 normal right-handed subjects from 13 midline and lateral scalp sites during a task that involved learning a list of 20 words in the auditory modality, followed by recognition memory testing in first the auditory and then the visual modality. Subjects were instructed to keypress to repeated words, which were randomly mixed with an equal number of novel distractor words. A decrement in the amplitude of the N4 component of ERPs and an increase in the P3 component was found following repeated words in the auditory condition, and this difference persisted across modalities to the visual condition, although the anterior-posterior distribution of the N4 difference changed between conditions. The cross-modal transfer of the repetition-induced N4 attenuation suggests that the N4 change may be modulated by a semantic (i.e., non-modality specific) memory trace, while the difference in its distribution between the auditory and visual conditions provides evidence for a modality-specific contribution to the N4 generator.
Article Commentary: Animal Rights, Animal Wrongs and the Question of Balance
Authors: Ulrich Roger E.
Published: April 2006

The issue of “animal rights” is part of a larger, overriding problem of the rights of all living beings to an habitable earth. The dangers posed to the overall environment by researchers who are insensitive to their animal subjects is not unlike that of animal rights activists who are equally unaware of the adverse effects which arise from some of their own daily actions. The present paper looks at both the world of science and antivivisection, making the case that all of us must begin to appreciate more fully the concept of there being limits to growth and the need to make better use of life sustaining resources still available. Issues involved in the debate over ethics in animal research are extremely complex. Greater wisdom must be sought out and exercised in order to lead us toward policies that will work out best in the long run for both people and other animals. Scientists should not overreact to criticism of animal exploration and study which truly benefits the survival of all life on earth. Furthermore, researchers cannot escape the logic that if the animals we observe are reasonable models of our own most intricate actions, then they must be respected as we would respect our own sensibilities. We cannot defend our scientific work with animals on the basis of the similarities between them and ourselves and then defend it morally on the basis of differences. Although many people criticize animal research in seemingly irrational ways, it behooves our society to note that increasing numbers of scientists as well as clinicians are criticizing animal research on scientific grounds. Finally, critics of the animal rights movement, such as David Johnson, are not “wrong” for reporting their observations. Excesses are to be found, of course, just as they are found within the animal research institution and in our own daily lives. As scientists, we should look at all sides. The treatment of animals and humans, as well as all life, is a question of balance.
Towards an Objective Psychophysics of Pain
Authors: Irwin R. John , Whitehead Paul R.
Published: April 2006

The limits of most sensory systems can now be routinely determined by objective detection-theory methods. The threshold of pain, however, is often thought to require more traditional methods that rely on a subject providing some estimate or description of what is perceived. The subject makes a measurement that cannot be contested and, in this sense, the methods are subjective. An experimental study of electrocutaneous stimuli showed how it is possible to interpret a traditional identification method and a category method in detection-theory terms. On this interpretation, these traditional methods yield results similar to a rating method of detection theory, a method that measures sensory resolution. However, the traditional methods give rise to additional judgmental variance not involved in standard detection-theory methods. They therefore do not provide a special insight into the experience of pain, and the extra variance they produce serves only to degrade, rather than to enhance, their usefulness.
Multidimensional Scaling of Large Chromatic Differences by Normal and Color-Deficient Subjects
Authors: Paramei G.V. , Izmailov Ch.A. , Sokolov E.N.
Published: April 2006

The following two articles offer a glimpse at current experimental psychology in the Soviet Union, normally screened from the English-speaking world by all but impenetrable language barriers. The accompanying Commentary by Tarow Indow helps place these contributions in the framework of contemporary work on the psychophysics of color perception.

Fifteen normal trichromatic subjects, two protanopes, and two deuteranopes judged pairs of successively presented foveal color stimuli. Multidimensional scaling of the data yielded estimates of a three-dimensional space with axes interpreted as red–green, blue–yellow, and white–black. For color-deficient subjects, the average radius of the space differed from that of normals, being smaller for the protanopes and larger for the deuteranopes. For both types of color deficiency, the blue–yellow axis was stretched relative to the red–green, more strongly in the protanopes. The findings are taken to support the generality of a “spherical” model.
Spherical Model of Color and Brightness Discrimination
Authors: Izmailov Ch.A. , Sokolov E.N.
Published: April 2006

The most important problem confronting color science is the construction of a uniform color space, i.e., a geometrical model of color discrimination in which Euclidean distances between the points representing colors are proportional to perceived color differences. The traditional approach to the construction of a metric color space is based on the integration of just-noticeable color differences (Wyszecki & Stiles, 1982). Experimental data show, however, that the integral of just-noticeable differences between colors does not coincide with direct estimations of the subjective differences between the colors (Judd, 1967; Izmailov, 1980). We suggest another way to construct a uniform color space, namely, to analyze large color differences by multidimensional scaling. This paper reports three groups of experimental data of the measurement of large color differences. Based on these data, we suggest a new color space model taking into account nontraditional relations between threshold and suprathreshold differences. The first group of data includes the results of research on color discrimination for a set of equibright monochromatic lights. The second group includes data on the discrimination of achromatic light stimuli resulting from different relations between test and background luminances. The third group consists of results of color-naming classification of lights varying in chromaticity and brightness. Chromatic differences between spectral stimuli of equal brightness, varying in hue and saturation, and differences in brightness between achromatic lights varying in luminance were analyzed separately. The results are compared with a general color space of colors of different hue, saturation, and brightness. The color spaces were constructed by the same multidimensional scaling technique. An important advantage of multidimensional scaling is that it offers the possibility of finding the dimensionality of a color space directly from experimental data, as we demonstrate for the analysis of color discrimination data for equibright stimuli.
When People's Judgments of Learning (JOLs) are Extremely Accurate at Predicting Subsequent Recall: The “Delayed-JOL Effect”
Authors: Nelson Thomas O. , Dunlosky John
Published: April 2006

Judgments of learning (JOLs), which pertain to knowing what one knows and which help to guide self-paced study during acquisition, have almost never been very accurate at predicting subsequent recall. We recently discovered a situation in which the JOLs can be made to be extremely accurate. Here we report the conditions under which such high accuracy occurs, namely, when the JOL made on the stimulus cue is delayed until shortly after study rather than being made immediately after study. Discussion is focused both on theoretical explanations (to be explored in future research) and on potential applications of the delayed-JOL effect.
Viewer-Centered and Object-Centered Representations in the Recognition of Naturalistic Line Drawings
Authors: McMullen Patricia A. , Farah Martha J.
Published: April 2006

Although most recent research on visual object recognition suggests that shape is represented in a viewer-centered reference frame, Tarr and Pinker ( Psychological Science, 1990) propose that object-centered representations exist, but can code the spatial relations among the parts of an object along only one dimension. This hypothesis was formulated on the basis of research with novel abstract shapes. We tested and confirmed the generality of this hypothesis for the recognition of realistic line drawings of familiar objects. The results also allow us to rule out previous hypotheses concerning the shift from orientation dependence to orientation independence in the recognition of repeatedly viewed drawings.
Orientation Discrimination in a Visual Form Agnosic: Evidence from the McCollough Effect
Authors: Keith G. Humphrey , Goodale Melvyn A. , Gurnsey Rick
Published: April 2006

The McCollough effect is a color aftereffect contingent on pattern orientation. The effect was induced in a woman who has a profound impairment in orientation perception due to brain damage. The fact that she experiences the McCollough effect indicates that her visual system is still representing orientation at some level. Further, the finding that her occipital lobe damage is confined mainly to the prestriate regions suggests that the McCollough effect may be mediated by mechanisms at a low level in the visual system, perhaps in area 17.
Skinner, Creativity, and the Problem of Spontaneous Behavior
Authors: Epstein Robert
Published: April 2006

Behavior is generative, by which I mean that it is probabilistic, continuous in time, and always novel. At first glance, B.F. Skinner's work would seem to make contact with generative aspects of behavior, since he studied the “emitted” behavior of “freely moving organisms,” since he analyzed language, music, literature, and other creative activities, and since he himself was an exceptionally creative individual. In fact, Skinner's work focuses on the effects of various interventions on ongoing behavior; it says little about where that behavior comes from in the first place. Generativity theory suggests that simple behavioral processes of the sort Skinner studied operate simultaneously on the probabilities of a large number of different behaviors. Instantiated in a computer model, the theory has successfully emulated complex, novel performances in both human and animal subjects, and it may some day allow for the real-time simulation of novel performances in individual human subjects.
Relation between the Rational Model and the Context Model of Categorization
Authors: Nosofsky Robert M.
Published: April 2006

A formal proof is provided that Anderson's (1990) rational model of categorization generalizes the Medin and Schaffer (1978) context model. According to the context model, people represent categories by storing individual exemplars in memory. According to the rational model, people represent categories in terms of multiple exemplar-clusters or prototypes. In both models, a multiplicative rule is used to compute the similarity of an item to the underlying category representations. In certain special cases, each multiple prototype in the rational model corresponds to an individual exemplar, and in these cases the rational model reduces to the context model. Preliminary quantitative comparisons between the models are illustrated to test whether the multiple-prototype view adds significant explanatory power over the pure exemplar view.
Feature Availability in Conceptual Combination
Authors: Springer Ken , Murphy Gregory L.
Published: April 2006

Three experiments investigated the interpretation of conceptual combinations such as peeled apples. These experiments focused on verification of combination properties. Some properties (e.g., “round” for peeled apples) were verifiable by virtue of the noun alone, whereas others (e.g., “white” for peeled apples) required the combination of adjective and noun and generation of a new property not associated with either. Surprisingly, combination properties were verified more easily than noun properties, even under conditions of extremely rapid presentation. This finding contradicts a simple compositional model of combination in which components are analyzed prior to interpretation of the overall combination meaning. The implications for models of conceptual combination are discussed.
Article Commentary: Rationality, Melioration, and Law-of-Effect Models for Choice
Authors: Staddon J.E.R.
Published: April 2006

Economists usually assume that human choice behavior is rational, by which they mean that it maximizes some utility function. Psychologists are more impressed by the evident irrationality of behavior and tend to look for choice mechanisms (which cannot act rationally under alt conditions). Richard Herrnstein (1990a) has recently argued that the choices of pigeons and people are dynamically driven by a moment-by-moment tendency to equalize payoff per unit of activity invested, a mechanism he terms melioration. I argue that economic models are not so bad, and melioration is not so good, as Herrnstein contends. The problem with rational choice is not that it is wrong but that it is too flexible. The problems with melioration are that it is poorly defined and refers only to events in the recent past (local events).
Numerical Cognition: Loci of Ability Differences Comparing Children from China and the United States
Authors: Geary David C. , Fan Liu , Bow-Thomas C. Christine
Published: April 2006

This study was designed to determine if the advantage of Chinese children over American children in basic numerical skills is related to differences in the strategies used to solve elementary mathematics problems or to the speed of executing the underlying processes. To achieve this goal, first-grade children from China and the United States were administered a pencil-and-paper numerical ability measure and solved a series of computer-presented addition problems. For the computer task, strategies and solution times used in problem solving were recorded on a trial-by-trial basis. The Chinese children showed a 3-to-1 performance advantage on the ability measure. Chinese and American children used the same types of strategies to solve the addition problems, but the Chinese children were well ahead of their American counterparts in terms of the developmental maturity of the strategy mix. The Chinese children also showed a speed-of-processing advantage for retrieval-based, but not counting-based, processes. The strategic and speed-of-processing differences appeared to mediate the advantage of the Chinese children on the ability measure. Implications for the acquisition of more complex mathematical skills and concepts are discussed.
New Conceptualizations of Practice: Common Principles in Three Paradigms Suggest New Concepts for Training
Authors: Schmidt Richard A. , Bjork Robert A.
Published: April 2006

We argue herein that typical training procedures are far from optimal. The goat of training in real-world settings is, or should be, to support two aspects of posttraining performance: (a) the level of performance in the long term and (b) the capability to transfer that training to related tasks and altered contexts. The implicit or explicit assumption of those persons responsible for training is that the procedures that enhance performance and speed improvement during training will necessarily achieve these two goals. However, a variety of experiments on motor and verbal learning indicate that this assumption is often incorrect. Manipulations that maximize performance during training can be detrimental in the long term; conversely, manipulations that degrade the speed of acquisition can support the long-term goals of training. The fact that there are parallel findings in the motor and verbal domains suggests that principles of considerable generality can be deduced to upgrade training procedures.
Failures to Detect Contradictions in a Text: What Readers Believe versus what they Read
Authors: Otero José , Kintsch Walter
Published: April 2006

Subjects read brief paragraphs containing contradictory statements. Many of the subjects failed to notice the contradiction. On a subsequent recall test, nondetectors frequently either recalled only one or neither of the contradictory statements or explained the contradiction away. The construction-integration model of discourse comprehension is used to simulate these results. Failures to detect contradictions are accounted for by assuming that nondetectors believe too strongly in the global text interpretations they create or in their prior beliefs. In the model, this means that their comprehension processes are normal, except that one normal component of comprehension—differential weighting of important statements—is exaggerated.
Explaining “Memory Free” Reasoning
Authors: Brainerd C.J. , Reyna V.F.
Published: April 2006

Cognitive theorists generally assume that reasoning depends on memory; accurate reasoning requires access to critical informational inputs. Although memory dependency seems self-evidently true, it has been disconfirmed in recent studies of children's logical, mathematical, and pragmatic inferences. These studies have led to a new account of cognitive development, fuzzy-trace theory, that stresses the unfolding of gist-driven intuitive reasoning processes, and that reformulates traditional conceptions of the relationship between verbatim and gist memories. Fuzzy-trace theory also identifies circumstances in which reasoning accuracy depends on memory accuracy.
A Quantitative Genetic Analysis of Cognitive Abilities during the Second Half of the Life Span
Authors: Pedersen N.L. , Plomin R. , Nesselroade J.R. , McClearn G.E.
Published: April 2006

Little is known about the importance of genetic effects on individual differences in cognitive abilities late in life. We present the first report from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) for cognitive data, including general cognitive ability and 13 tests of specific cognitive abilities. The adoption/twin design consists of identical twins separated at an early age and reared apart (46 pairs), identical twins reared together (67 pairs), fraternal twins reared apart (100 pairs), and fraternal twins reared together (89 pairs); average age was 65 years. Heritability of general cognitive ability in these twins was much higher (about 80%) than estimates typically found earlier in life (about 50%). Consistent with the literature, heritabilities of specific cognitive abilities were lower than the heritability of general cognitive ability but nonetheless substantial. Average heritabilities for verbal, spatial, perceptual speed, and memory tests were, respectively, 58%, 46%, 58%, and 38%.
Determination of Authorship Credit in Published Dissertations
Authors: Costa M. Martin , Gatz Margaret
Published: April 2006

Assignment of publication credit in student—faculty collaborations was examined using vignettes. Three levels of advisor input into developing and conducting the research and two objectives (dissertation vs. nondegree research) were systematically varied to create six scenarios. As hypothesized, authorship credit increased with input, as it should; students were given more credit by faculty on published dissertations than on nondegree research; and second authorship for dissertation advisors was largely automatic, with more credit given to faculty than available guidelines recommend. Contrary to expectation, comparison of faculty and graduate student responses indicated that students were more generous to advisors than advisors were to themselves. Post hoc analyses suggested a cohort effect, with senior faculty giving greater credit to graduate students than did junior faculty.
Perceptual Bias for Forward-Facing Motion
Authors: McBeath Michael K. , Morikawa Kazunori , Kaiser Mary K.
Published: April 2006

When an occluded horizontal row of shapes is shifted laterally, apparent motion can he experienced in either the leftward or the rightward direction. Four experiments provide evidence for a motion bias in the direction that shapes appear to face. The bias tended to be largest when directionality was specified geometrically (e.g., triangles), next largest when it was specified biologically (e.g., mice), and absent when it was specified calligraphically (e.g., letter R). The bias increased parametrically as a function of triangle pointedness and was consistent with the directional interpretation of an ambiguous duck-rabbit. The results support the existence of a cognitively specified forward-facing attribute that can influence experienced direction of motion.
Non-Similarity-Based Conceptualization in Pigeons via Secondary or Mediated Generalization
Authors: Wasserman E.A. , DeVolder C.L. , Coppage D.J.
Published: April 2006

We used a three-step procedure to produce and disclose non-similarity-based conceptualization in pigeons. Merely by being associated with the same response in the first step, classes of perceptually dissimilar stimuli, like cars and chairs, appear to amalgamate into a new category of functionally equivalent Stimuli. Thus, requiring a new response to be made to only one of these two stimulus classes in the second step transfers to the other stimulus class in the third step. This case of non-similarity-based conceptualization in pigeons is relevant to the construction of superordinate categories and to the role of language in secondary or mediated generalization.
The Learning Curve for Writing Books: Evidence from Professor Asimov
Authors: Ohlsson Stellan
Published: April 2006

Learning curves observed in laboratory experiments invariably have a negatively accelerated shape. However, we have little information about the shape of the learning curve in the learning of complex professional skills under realistic conditions. Data from Isaac Asimov's writing career show that a lifetime of practice sometimes follows the learning curve observed in the laboratory.
Autonomic Nervous System Differences among Emotions
Authors: Levenson Robert W.
Published: April 2006

Following decades of controversy and uncertainty, there is now sufficient empirical basis for asserting the existence of a limited set of autonomic differences among emotions. Findings of autonomic distinctions among emotions-derived from the work of the author and his colleagues using two methods of emotion elicitation are reviewed. For five of these autonomic distinctions, convergent findings from the work of other investigators using the same and other elicitation methods are presented.
Emotion and Affective Style: Hemispheric Substrates
Authors: Davidson Richard J.
Published: April 2006

Research on cerebral asymmetry and the experience and expression of emotion is reviewed. The studies described use electrophysiological procedures to make inferences about patterns of regional cortical activation. Such procedures have sufficient temporal resolution to be used in the study of brief emotional experiences denoted by spontaneous facial expressions. In adults and infants, the experimental arousal of positive, approach-related emotions is associated with selective activation of the left frontal region, while arousal of negative, withdrawal-related emotions is associated with selective activation of the right frontal region. Individual differences in baseline measures of frontal asymmetry are associated with dispositional mood, affective reactivity, temperament, and immune function. These studies suggest that neural systems mediating approach- and withdrawal-related emotion and action are, in part, represented in the left and right frontal regions, respectively, and that individual differences in the activation levels of these systems are associated with a coherent nomological network of associations which constitute a person's affective style.
Heuristics for Determining the Optimal Interval between Checkups
Authors: Klatzky Roberta L. , Messick David M. , Loftus Judith
Published: April 2006

How often should one check on a system that is at risk for some malfunction? The optimal interval between inspections depends on the likelihood of malfunction, the cost of inspection, and the cost of treatment We develop a mathematical expression for the optimal inspection interval as a function of these parameters and then an approximation for that expression The approximation indicates that as the risk increases or the ratio of inspection to disease cost decreases by a factor of n, the inspection interval should be reduced by n1/2 We also report an experiment indicating that subjects who generate optimal inspection intervals use examples as anchors and then perform adjustments for variations in risk and cost factors However, they do not approximate the appropriate square-root adjustment rule The observed anchor-and-adjust process suggests that normative recommendations may serve as influential benchmarks, even if they are not adhered to directly
Mathematics Anxiety and Science Careers among Able College Women
Authors: Chipman Susan F , Krantz David H , Silver Rae
Published: April 2006

Does mathematics anxiety deflect able students from pursuing scientific careers? We obtained the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of 1,366 students entering Barnard College and also questioned them about their career interests and their feelings about mathematics learning At every level of mathematical skill, math anxiety correlated negatively with interest in scientific careers Contrariwise, quantitative SAT score was unrelated to career interests, within relatively homogeneous categories of math anxiety or confidence Students were also asked directly whether the desire to avoid math affected their career choices The responses suggested a mediating role for math anxiety or confidence in career choice
The Rewards and Hazards of Computer Simulations
Authors: Lewandowsky Stephan
Published: April 2006

Although computer simulations and other modeling tools have assumed a pivotal role in cognitive psychology, their utility continues to be questioned by some psychologists. This article presents several examples that illustrate both rewards and potential hazards associated with the simulation approach. Simulations can provide the formal framework necessary to disambiguate new ideas, they can explore the implications of complex models, and they can predict seemingly counterintuitive findings or uncover hidden relationships. At the same time, care must be taken to avoid pitfalls that may arise when computer code inadvertently differs from the intended specifications of a theory, or when predictions derive not from fundamental properties of a theory but from pragmatic choices made by the modeler.
Modeling the Effects of Expectations on Recognition Memory
Authors: Heit Evan
Published: April 2006

Expectations have consistent effects on recognition memory, but prior research has not explained these results. Three theories of how expectations affect recognition were compared. According to integration theory, the probability of recognizing a test item increases with its similarity to memory traces both for expected items and for studied items. In weighting theory and in distortion theory, recognition judgments are determined by similarity to memory traces solely for studied items. Weighting theory additionally assumes that expectation-congruent items and expectation-incongruent items have differently weighted influences. Distortion theory additionally assumes that memory traces for studied items are distorted to be more like what is expected. Predictions for the three theories were obtained by implementing them within a mathematical model of memory. These predictions were compared with the results obtained in a meta-analysis of stereotype effects on recognition (Stangor & McMillan, 1992). The conclusion was that only integration theory predicted these results.
Stimulus-Onset Asynchrony Is Not Necessary for Motion Perception or Metacontrast Masking
Authors: Di Lollo Vincent , Bischof Walter F. , Dixon Peter
Published: April 2006

Coherent directional motion is seen if a translated image is displayed in two sequential frames (F1 and F2). In a related paradigm—metacontrast masking—the mask (F2) reduces the visibility of the target (F1). Although strict temporal succession has been considered essential in both paradigms, we obtained both coherent motion and metacontrast masking with simultaneous onsets of F1 and F2, provided that F2 outlasted F1. Computational models of motion sensors are inherently capable of explaining these results, but inhibitory theories of metacontrast masking are disconfirmed.
Which Psychologists Prominent in the Second Half of This Century Made Lasting Contributions to Psychological Theory?
Authors: Hilgard Ernest R.
Published: April 2006

The autobiographies in the last five volumes of A History of Psychology in Autobiography, Volumes IV to VIII, published between the years 1952 and 1989, represent psychologists sufficiently along in their careers to have been selected by committees of their peers to be invited to prepare their autobiographies. They all had met some criteria of eminence. With the autobiographies available, and additional information about the writers, since most continued active beyond the time the autobiographies were written, an effort has been made to specify the enduring contributions of a few of these psychologists, chosen somewhat arbitrarily to represent a limited number of specialty areas. In spite of its limitations, this review points up the value of autobiographies as sources of information about the development of scientific ideas that can supplement the more formal presentations in technical books and articles.
Impact of Child Sexual Abuse on Females: Toward a Developmental, Psychobiological Integration
Authors: Trickett Penelope K. , Putnam Frank W.
Published: April 2006

In the last decade, it has become clear that the sexual abuse of children is much more prevalent than previously realized and that such abuse has extensive mental health sequelae. Females are reported victims of sexual abuse much more often than males. The peak age of onset of sexual abuse for females is prepubertal—7 or 8 years of age—and the average duration fends to be about 2 years. The basic theme of this article is that there may be directly traceable mechanistic relationships between the impact of sexual abuse on specific psychological and biological developmental processes for females and some of the adult outcomes of that abuse. Specifically, it is proposed that, to understand the long-term impact of sexual abuse, it is necessary to investigate how it may interfere with both the psychological and the biological processes of pubertal development.
In-Group Identification as a Function of Depersonalization, Distinctiveness, and Status
Authors: Brewer Marilynn B. , Manzi Jorge M. , Shaw John S.
Published: April 2006

Artificial social categories were created in a laboratory context in order to test predictions regarding the relative importance of group size and status as determinants of in-group favoritism. Subjects were assigned to categories of “overestimator” or “under estimator” and were told that one category included a majority of college students while the other represented a minority. Prior to category assignment, half of the subjects had been given confidentiality instructions designed to make them feel highly depersonalized. Based on feedback about test performance, status differentials between the two estimation categories were introduced.

Consistent with predictions, there was a three-way interaction between depersonalization, in-group size, and in-group status as determinants of evaluative in-group bias on social trait ratings. Under control conditions (no depersonalization), group status and majority size both contributed to positive valuations of the in-group. Under the depersonalization condition, however, subjects valued minority group membership more than majority categorization, and the effect of status was eliminated.
Infant Macaque Monkeys Respond to Pictorial Depth
Authors: Gunderson Virginia M. , Yonas Albert , Sargent Patricia L. , Grant-Webster Kimberly S.
Published: April 2006

The studies described here are the first to demonstrate that a nonhuman primate species is capable of responding to pictorial depth information during infancy. In two experiments, pigtailed macaque ( Macaca nemestrina) infants were tested for responsivity to the pictorial depth cues of texture gradient/linear perspective and relative size. The procedures were adapted from human studies and are based on the proclivity of infants to reach more frequently to closer objects than to objects that are farther away. The stimulus displays included two equidistant objects that, when viewed monocularly, appear separated in space because of an illusion created by pictorial depth cues. When presented with these displays, animals reached significantly more often to the apparently closer objects under monocular conditions than under binocular conditions. These findings suggest that infant macaques are sensitive to pictorial depth information, the implication being that this ability has ancient phylogenetic origins and is not learned from exposure to the conventions of Western art.
Rotation of Mental Images in Baboons When the Visual Input Is Directed to the Left Cerebral Hemisphere
Authors: Vauclair Jacques , Fagot Joël , Hopkins William D.
Published: April 2006

The mental rotation phenomenon was examined in baboons and humans using a video-formatted mutching-to-sample task. Sample stimuli were presented either centrally or in the right or left visual half-field. Immediately afterward, subjects had to distinguish the previously presented sample stimulus from its mirror image after both had been rotated to the same angular deviation. A mental rotation phenomenon was found in baboons and humans, but in baboons this effect was limited to conditions in which visual input was directed to the right visual half-field. These data represent the first evidence of mental rotation in a nonhuman species.
Development of Basic Auditory Discrimination in Preschool Children
Authors: Jensen Janet K. , Neff Donna L.
Published: April 2006

Intensity (loudness), frequency (pitch), and duration discrimination were examined in 41 normal-hearing children, aged 4 to 6 years, and 9 adults. A second study retested 25 of the youngest children 12 to 18 months later. Intensity discrimination showed the least improvement with age and was adultlike by age 5 for most of the children. In contrast, frequency and duration discrimination showed highly significant improvement with age, hut remained poorer than adults' discrimination for many 6-year-olds. Large individual differences were observed within alt tasks and age groups.
Concepts, Categories, and Psychological Science
Authors: Estes W. K.
Published: April 2006

Why are psychologists not often vailed on for their expertise in connection with the larger problems of society? The nature of expertise is analyzed in the framework of a theory of concept formation and categorization. Expert-novice differences in approaches to problems, and. more generally, the nature of abstraction and judgment, are interpreted in terms of cognitive processes that operate by computations on an instance-based composite memory. Applied to “growing pains” of psychological science, the theory has implications for graduate training and the direction of research support.
Human Models of Animal Behavior
Authors: Church Russell M.
Published: April 2006

Similarities between the behavior of humans and other animals in analogous tasks suggest that simitar cognitive processes are involved. Human studies provide an efficient way to collect data with low variability, and animal studies provide a way to collect a large amount of data under controlled conditions, study a wide range of manipulations, limit the range of plausible explanations, and develop explanations in terms of brain mechanisms. Examples are taken from studies of timing that used similar procedures for humans and other animals.
The Transmitter-Persistence Effect: A Confounded Discovery?
Authors: Lassiter G. Daniel , Pezzo Mark V. , J. Apple Kevin
Published: April 2006

In four studies, Boninger, Brock, Cook, Cruder, and Romer (1990) found that attitude change following exposure to a persuasive message persisted longer if recipients were expecting to have to transmit the message to someone else. The present experiment demonstrated that this effect obtains only if the people preparing to transmit, as was the case in the studies of Boninger et al., are denied the opportunity to do so. It is argued, then, that the findings of Boninger et al., may be attributable to a tendency toward thought perseveration triggered by the failure to complete the transmission task, rather than being a consequence of the preparation to transmit per se.
The Psychological and Social Origins of Autobiographical Memory
Authors: Nelson Katherine
Published: April 2006

Recent research on young children's memory for personal episodes provides new insights into the phenomenon of infantile amnesia, first identified by Freud. New research indicates that children learn to share memories with others, that they acquire the narrative forms of memory recounting, and that such recounts are effective in reinstating experienced memories only after the children can utilize another person's representation of an experience in language as a reinstatement of their own experience. This competence requires a level of mastery of the representational function of language that appears at the earliest in the mid to late preschool years.
Predicting Clustering From Semantic Structure
Authors: Romney A. Kimball , Brewer Devon D. , Batchelder William H.
Published: April 2006

This study presents a process model for predicting the strength of semantic clustering within homogeneous semantic domains. The key element of the model is the assumption that clustering between adjacent items in recall is a function of their semantic similarity defined by proximity in a multidimensional space. Data from 17 word lists drawn from various homogeneous semantic domains were collected by a method that simultaneously provides interitem proximity data for similarity scaling and creates a memory list for later recall. Wide variation in the strength of semantic clustering was observed among the 17 word lists. Subjects' clustering performance was in close correspondence to predictions derived from the process model. Moreover, the degree of observed and simulated clustering across lists was strongly associated with distributional features of the semantic structure of the word lists.
Comparing the Tortoise and the Hare: Gender Differences and Experience in Dynamic Spatial Reasoning Tasks
Authors: Law David J. , Pellegrino James W. , Hunt Earl B.
Published: April 2006

Recent research suggests that dynamic spatial reasoning tasks show more robust gender differences than static spatial reasoning tasks. These differences have implications for selection procedures based on aptitude test scores. Two experiments were therefore designed to examine the locus of such gender differences. In Experiment 1, 82 males and 82 females performed two separate tasks: judging the relative velocity of moving objects and judging their relative distances from target destinations. Significant gender differences occurred only for relative velocity judgments and were partially related to prior experience. A second experiment therefore tested the effects of practice and feedback on performance judging relative velocity. Male and female performance differences were again found, and performance improved equally as a result of feedback. Consistent with contemporary views of aptitude and assessment, the data suggest that equitable assessment of dynamic spatial abilities requires a determination of experiential history and learning rates as well as absolute performance levels.
Hemispheric Differences in Auditory Perception Are Similar to Those Found in Visual Perception
Authors: Ivry Richard B. , Lebby Paul C.
Published: April 2006

In a pitch discrimination task, subjects were faster and more accurate in judging low-frequency sounds when these stimuli were presented to the left ear, compared with the right ear. In contrast, a right-ear advantage was found with high-frequency sounds. The effect was in terms of relative frequency and not absolute frequency, suggesting that the effect arises from postsensory mechanisms. A simitar laterality effect has been reported in visual perception with stimuli varying in spatial frequency. These multimodal laterality effects may reflect a general computational difference between the two cerebral hemispheres, with the left hemisphere biased for processing high-frequency information and the right hemisphere biased for processing low-frequency information.