bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Physical education and nationalism in Wales
Authors: Davies Brian , Evans John , Penney Dawn , Di Bass
Published: September 2011

This paper explores the connections between physical education (PE), sport, nationalism and citizenship in Wales, focusing upon how recent education policies relating to PE and sport are implicated in the cultural production of ideational differences between and among the peoples of Wales and England. The analysis suggests that tendencies towards narrow, conservative, cultural restorationist ideals, as evident in Wales as they are in England, may obstruct progress towards more innovative and progressive ideals in the curriculum of PE.
League tables and the press ‐value added?
Authors: Maw Janet
Published: September 2011

This article examines the way the national press have reported school performance and, in particular, the different strategies they adopt to compare one school with another. Though the author suggests that the press have shown a striking degree of ambivalence towards league tables, nevertheless she argues that when it has referred to them, it has frequently presented misleading and unreliable accounts of the comparative performance of schools. She concludes by arguing that, though this area is difficult and complex, different, and in some cases distorting, strategies muddy the waters of educational understanding and do not contribute to better performance by schools.
Curriculum planning: prediction or response? A case‐study of teacher planning conducted through partnership action research
Authors: Bage Grant , Grosvenor Jill , Williams Marion
Published: September 2011

This article draws on evidence from a partnership action research project concerning curriculum organization in three English primary schools. Using a case‐study of site visit planning, teaching and learning in an age 5‐11 rural primary school, it argues that, despite major centralizing initiatives such as the English National Curriculum and OFSTED inspection systems, teacher planning remains a complex, variable and necessarily individualized activity. The teacher planning discussed has been highly commended through a local school inspection under the OFSTED system; but the teachers’ organically influenced views of planning contrast with the more mechanistic written guidance from governmental and advisory bodies. Such centralized advice, driven by the assumption that educational improvement means ‘raising standards’, tends to model formulaic planning procedures which ignore evidence of how rich teacher thinking and planning can be in practice. The argument is made not simply to undermine nationally agreed curricula or inspection systems, but to advocate that policy‐makers should build from teachers’ natural diversities and avoid the over‐ambitious, even dangerous task of attempting to standardize their planning.
Exploring the use of textbooks in Key Stage 3 geography classrooms: a small‐scale study
Authors: Lambert David
Published: September 2011

Research on school textbooks in the UK is surprisingly sparse. It consists mainly of reports on quantitative measures of textbook provision or else desk research on the contents of textbooks. Though valuable in a number of respects, work of this nature fails to address more dynamic questions relating to the way textbooks are used in the classroom and in home study. While textbook use is linked to some degree to how teachers and children perceive the role of the textbooks, and may therefore be open to enquiry by way of survey methods, there is a need to access classrooms directly. This study attempts to do this using an observation instrument developed for use by student teachers, who became the principal data‐gatherers in a specially arranged experiment in textbook provision. With support in kind arranged through the Educational Publishers’ Council, participating geography departments were able to choose, free of charge, the printed resources they required to teach an aspect of the KS3 programme of study to Year 8. In exchange they agreed to open geography classrooms to observation and scrutiny. This article describes the results of the study.
Primary teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning
Authors: Gipps Caroline , McCallum Bet , Brown Margaret
Published: September 2011

This article focuses on primary teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and in particular about their preferred ways of teaching; how they integrate National Curriculum requirements into their teaching programmes and their views about stereotyped ‘models’ of pedagogy. The authors conclude that learning and teaching are understood as highly complex and cannot be subsumed under one particular model. They suggest that most primary school teachers adopt an eclectic approach, but that frequently they are confused about the content of the mix or which approach might be most appropriately used in any particular context.
Creative development in the early years: some implications of policy for practice
Authors: Craft Anna
Published: September 2011

This article focuses on the identifying of ‘creative development’ as a desirable early years learning outcome by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA, 1997). The article begins with a rationale for the inclusion of ‘creativity’ in the curriculum of young children in a post‐modern world at the turn of the century. It then goes on to look at the way in which ‘creative development’ is characterized by SCAA as a desirable learning outcome, and to unpick some of the messages which its inclusion in the curriculum may signify. There are several challenges posed by this part of the early years curriculum, which are then explored. Finally it proposes a framework for interpreting and translating it into practice.
Exploring the Central Executive
Authors: Baddeley Alan
Published: September 2011

The central executive component of working memory is a poorly specified and very powerful system that could be criticized as little more than a homunculus. A research strategy is outlined that attempts to specify and analyse its component functions and is illustrated with four lines of research. The first concerns the study of the capacity to coordinate performance on two separate tasks. A second involves the capacity to switch retrieval strategies as reflected in random generation. The capacity to attend selectively to one stimulus and inhibit the disrupting effect of others comprises the third line of research, and the fourth involves the capacity to hold and manipulate information in long-term memory, as reflected in measures of working memory span. It is suggested that this multifaceted approach is a fruitful one that leaves open the question of whether it will ultimately prove more appropriate to regard the executive as a unified system with multiple functions, or simply as an agglomeration of independent though interacting control processes. In the meantime, it seems useful to continue to use the concept of a central executive as a reminder of the crucially important control functions of working memory.
Direction of Report in Spatial and Verbal Serial Short term Memory
Authors: Farrand Paul , Jones Dylan
Published: September 2011

Four experiments examined the role played by item and order information in determining the effects of order of report of a sequence from short-term memory. Experiments in which list items were re-presented prior to recall so that only their order had to be reported showed no differences in performance between the forward and backward direction of report. This result was found with lists of auditory-verbal, visual-verbal, and spatial stimuli. When the list items were not re-presented, so that recall of both items and order was required, recall in the backward direction of report was significantly worse than in the forward direction of report, both in spatial and verbal tasks. The results point to the symmetry of inter-item associations, though only equivocally so, but they suggest strongly that the processes of spatial and verbal serial recall share many functional characteristics.
Unchained Memory: Error Patterns Rule out Chaining Models of Immediate Serial Recall
Authors: Henson Richard N. A. , Norris Dennis G. , Page Michael P. A. , Baddeley Alan D.
Published: September 2011

Many models of serial recall assume a chaining mechanism whereby each item associatively evokes the next in sequence. Chaining predicts that, when sequences comprise alternating confusable and non-confusable items, confusable items should increase the probability of errors in recall of following non-confusable items. Two experiments using visual presentation and one using vocalized presentation test this prediction and demonstrate that: (1) more errors occur in recall of confusable than alternated non-confusable items, revealing a “sawtooth” in serial position curves; (2) the presence of confusable items often has no influence on recall of the non-confusable items; and (3) the confusability of items does not affect the type of errors that follow them. These results are inconsistent with the chaining hypothesis. Further analysis of errors shows that most transpositions occur over short distances (the locality constraint), confusable items tend to interchange (the similarity constraint), and repeated responses are rare and far apart (the repetition constraint). The complete pattern of errors presents problems for most current models of serial recall, whether or not they employ chaining. An alternative model is described that is consistent with these constraints and that simulates the detailed pattern of errors observed.
Dissociating Face Processing Skills: Decisions about Lip read Speech, Expression, and Identity
Authors: Campbell Ruth , Brooks Barbara , de Haan Edward , Roberts Tony
Published: September 2011

The separability of different subcomponents of face processing has been regularly affirmed, but not always so clearly demonstrated. In particular, the ability to extract speech from faces (lip-reading) has been shown to dissociate doubly from face identification in neurological but not in other populations. In this series of experiments with undergraduates, the classification of speech sounds (lip-reading) from personally familiar and unfamiliar face photographs was explored using speeded manual responses. The independence of lip-reading from identity-based processing was confirmed. Furthermore, the established pattern of independence of expression-matching from, and dependence of identity-matching on, face familiarity was extended to personally familiar faces and “difficult”-emotion decisions. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Distribution of Programming in a Rapid Aimed Sequential Movement
Authors: Smiley-Oyen A.L. , Worringham C.J.
Published: September 2011

Studies indicate that rapid sequential movements are preprogrammed and that preprogramming increases with complexity, but more complex sequences that require on-line programming have seldom been studied. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether on-line programming occurs in a 7-target sequence in which there is a unique target constraint and if so, to determine how different task constraints affect the distribution of additional programming. Subjects contacted seven targets with a hand-held stylus as quickly as possible while maintaining a 90% hit rate. Initiation- and execution-timing patterns and movement kinematics were measured to determine when the additional programming took place. Results indicated that additional programming occurred before initiation and during movement to the first target when the constraint required more spatial accuracy (small target). A different type of unique target (a triple hit of one target) caused the additional programming to occur on-line one or two segments before its execution. Different positions of the unique target also affected timing patterns. Results were discussed in terms of: (1) capacity of processing; (2) control of movement variance; and (3) mean velocity as a programmed parameter in sequential aiming movements.
To Forget or Not to Forget: The Effect of Probability of Test on Directed Forgetting
Authors: Golding Jonathan M. , Roper Karen L. , Hauselt Jerry
Published: September 2011

Two experiments investigated how individuals use explicit memory cues that designate different probabilities of test. As in typical directed forgetting studies, subjects received words explicitly cued as having either a 0% or a 100% chance of being on a subsequent memory test (i.e. forget and remember cues, respectively). In addition, some words were explicitly cued as having the potential to be either forgotten or remembered (i.e. a 50% cue). Recall of 50% words was between that of 0% and 100% words. In addition, the presence of 50% words lowered recall of the 100% words compared to that of a control group that did not receive the 50% words, but received the same number of 100% words. A think-aloud task indicated that these results were due to the 50% words being treated like either 100% or 0%words at encoding. The results are discussed in terms of the effect of different probabilities of test on the strategic processing and representation of information.
Skilled Motor Performance and Working Memory in Rowers: Body Patterns and Spatial Positions
Authors: Woodin Michael E. , Heil Jane
Published: September 2011

Previous studies using unfamiliar laboratory tasks (e.g. Smyth & Pendleton, 1990) have shown that working memory for movements to targets external to the body (positional movements) is dissociable from working memory for movements made to recreate specific configurations of body parts (patterned movements). In Experiment 1 this dissociation is replicated using tasks that were adapted for use in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2 the timing of experienced rowers’ performance of patterned and positional elements of the rowing stroke was selectively disrupted by concurrent performance of patterned and positional memory tasks, respectively. These results suggest that patterned and positional elements of well-practised everyday motor tasks, which involve a complex interaction of the two types of movement, are controlled separately and place dissociable demands on working memory.
An Item specific Locus of Repetition Priming
Authors: Dean Michael P. , Young Andrew W.
Published: September 2011

Two principal types of account of repetition priming postulate either facilitation of activation of perceptual representations used in stimulus recognition, or retrieval of specific processing episodes as possible mechanisms by which the effect occurs; these make different predictions concerning the priming of two stimuli presented simultaneously. In Experiments 1–3, subjects made same/different decisions about picture-word stimulus pairs. Recombining the pairings of a subset of items between training and test encounters did not significantly reduce the benefit in response time from repetition, as compared to pairs repeated intact. Subjects were able to remember the pairings (Experiment 4), but this did not influence repetition priming. Instead, the memory representations underlying the priming of each item in a pair were independent. No priming was found between pictures seen at training and words at test, and vice versa (Experiment 5), indicating that representations underlying the repetition effect were domain-specific. In Experiment 6, stimuli were all from within the domain of object pictures. Again, recombining the pairings of items between training and test did not significantly reduce the benefit in response time from repetition, as compared to pairs repeated intact. These results reveal an item-specific locus for repetition priming, consistent with priming occurring within pre-semantic perceptual representation systems involved in item recognition. The findings pose problems for theories that argue that repetition effects result only from retrieval of entire processing episodes.
On the Irrelevance of Semantic Information for the “Irrelevant Speech” Effect
Authors: Buchner Axel , Irmen Lisa , Erdfelder Edgar
Published: September 2011

Two experiments that tested whether semantic similarity between visually presented targets and auditorily presented distractors has an effect on serial recall of the visual targets are reported. In Experiment 1, we found no difference in the recall of two-digit numbers when distractors were either numbers or words and non-words that were designed to be phonologically similar to the targets. In Experiment 2 the “semantic distance” between targets and distractors had no effect on serial recall. Taken together, these experiments conceptually replicate and extend earlier results, and they establish constraints for models of the effect of unattended acoustic information on serial recall.
A General Factor Involved in Dual-task Performance Decrement
Authors: Bourke Patrick A. , Duncan John , Nimmo-Smith Ian
Published: September 2011

Beyond specific conflicts between tasks that are obviously similar (e.g. two verbal tasks) and limits specific to speeded responses, is there a general limitation on what tasks can be done simultaneously? In two experiments, we examined dual-task combinations designed to avoid known sources of specific interference. Under these circumstances, a general factor model predicts consistency in the pattern of results. Tasks should be ordered in demands on the general factor as measured by interference with concurrent tasks; this order should be the same for any concurrent task used to measure it. This prediction was confirmed in both experiments, each involving 12 dual task combinations of four tasks. In Experiment 1, the tasks were tone discrimination, random letter generation, a manual-tactile manipulation task, and recognition memory for photographs. In Experiment 2, the first of these was replaced by an easier tone-monitoring task, and the last by a visual prototype learning task.
Does Context Discriminate Recollection from Familiarity in Recognition Memory?
Authors: Perfect T.J. , Mayes A.R. , Downes J.J. , Van Eijk R.
Published: September 2011

Five experiments were conducted to examine subjects’ ability to make contextual judgements about recognized items for which they report recollective experience or only familiarity within the context of the experiment. In the first four experiments, subjects were able to make judgements of the spatiotemporal context of items that were accompanied by recollective experience significantly better than for items they merely found familiar. In only one of the four studies did subjects display above-chance performance on spatiotemporal judgements for merely familiar items. A fifth experiment examined the frequency with which subjects report the presence of different kinds of contextual knowledge during a standard recognition experiment. All aspects of contextual knowledge were reported with higher frequencies for recollected items than for items only found familiar, although no single contextual feature was strongly associated with recollective experience. Thus, the five studies together provide converging evidence for the validity of the “recollect-know” distinction in recognition memory and supplement studies that have already demonstrated that the two kinds of response are dissociable. The implications of these data for group comparisons of memory-impaired patients, and the role of context in recognition memory are discussed.
Word Dose in the Disruption of Serial Recall by Irrelevant Speech: Phonological Confusions or Changing State?
Authors: Bridges Andrew M. , Jones Dylan M.
Published: September 2011

Irrelevant background speech disrupts serial recall of visually presented lists of verbal material. Three experiments tested the hypothesis that the degree of disruption is dependent on the number of words heard (i.e. word dose) whilst the task was undertaken. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that more disruption is produced if the word dose is increased, thereby providing evidence to support the experimental hypothesis. It was concluded from the first two experiments that the word-dose effect might be the result of increasing the amount of changing-state information in the speech. The results of Experiment 3 supported this conclusion by showing an interaction between word dose and changing-state information. It was noted however that the results might be explained within the working memory account of the disruptive action of irrelevant speech. A further two experiments cast doubt on this possibility by failing to replicate the finding that the phonological similarity between heard and seen material affects the degree of interference (Salamé & Baddeley, 1982). The findings are discussed in relation to the changing state hypothesis of the irrelevant speech effect (e.g. Jones, Madden, & Miles, 1992).
The Supposed Effect of Interactive Imagery in Paired Associate Learning
Authors: Wilton Richard N. , Mathieson Patricia
Published: September 2011

Previous experiments designed to investigate the effects of interactive imagery in paired associate learning have included the confounded variable of intralist similarity: Images of objects interacting have corresponded to pairs with different connectives, and images of independent objects have corresponded to pairs with the same connective (the conjunction “and”). For the “different” group of our first experiment, the members of the different pairs were linked by different connectives, most of which denoted an action. For the “same” group, the members were linked by the same connective, usually one denoting an action. For the “and” group, the members were linked by the connective “and”. Cued recall by the “different” group was superior to that of the other two groups. Recall by the “same” and “and” groups did not differ. Within the “different” group, recall of “and” pairs did not differ from the recall of “action” pairs with which they had been mixed. In a second experiment, subjects were required to match the members of a pair. Analogous results were obtained. Overall, the findings imply that recall effects that have previously been interpreted as being a result of interactive imagery may be the result merely of variations in intralist similarity.
Self Priming: A Short term Benefit of Repetition
Authors: Calder Andrew J. , Young Andrew W.
Published: September 2011

Burton, Bruce, and Johnston (1990) developed an interactive activation and competition (IAC) model of person recognition that gives a parsimonious account of semantic and repetition priming effects with seen faces and names. This model predicts that a familiarity decision to a person's name should be facilitated if the name is immediately preceded by the same person's face (or vice versa); Burton et al. (1990) called this effect “self priming”. In three experiments, we explored properties of self priming predicted from Burton et al.'s (1990) IAC model. When each stimulus is seen on only one trial, the Burton et al. (1990) model predicts that within-domain self priming (e.g. name prime-name target) should produce more facilitation than cross-domain self priming (e.g. face prime-name target). This prediction was investigated in Experiments 1 and 2; results were consistent with it. Two further predictions from the Burton et al. (1990) model are that the amounts of within and cross-domain self priming should not differ when subjects are primed to recognize the targets by prior encounters during the experiment, and that self priming should produce more facilitation than semantic priming. Results of Experiment 3 were again consistent with both predictions. We conclude that the Burton et al. (1990) IAC model stands the test of further rigorous examination.
On Adaptation in Analogy: Tests of Pragmatic Importance and Adaptability in Analogical Problem Solving
Authors: Keane Mark T.
Published: September 2011

When people use analogies to solve problems, they form an analogical mapping between two domains of knowledge. This mapping may support inferences by analogy that suggest a novel solution to a problem. Several factors have been proposed to be important in selecting this mapping from among several alternative mappings: structural factors (systematicity and structural consistency) and pragmatic factors (the exploitation of higher-order planning categories). We suggest another set of factors plays a role in selecting mappings: adaptability. Specifically, if a mapped solution can be adapted easily to a problem, then it will be preferred over an alternative mapping that is less adaptable.

Two experiments are reported which test the effects of pragmatic and adaptation factors, using a novel technique in which the story analogue has two alternative plans, either of which can be used to solve an insight problem. In Experiment 1, these plans were varied in terms of their pragmatic importance (success or failure) and their adaptability. In Experiment 2, the relative adaptability of plans was manipulated. The results suggest that there is little evidence for these specific pragmatic factors, but that adaptability plays a definite role in selecting an analogous plan. The findings suggest that most models need to be extended to include adaptation constraints.
A Referential coding Explanation for Compatibility Effects of Physically Orthogonal Stimulus and Response Dimensions
Authors: Lippa Yvonne
Published: September 2011

This study addresses the dependence of compatibility effects on responding hand with horizontally oriented stimuli and vertically oriented responses (H-V effect) and with vertically oriented stimuli and horizontally oriented responses (V-H effect) reported by Bauer and Miller (1982). Experiment 1 replicated the H-V effect. In Experiment 2, the subject was instructed to respond with the hand in line with the response keys. That eliminated the H-V effect. In Experiment 3, the response board was placed to the left or right side of the subject, yielding a considerably reduced H-V effect and a novel compatibility effect dependent on board location. In Experiment 4, the V-H effect was produced when the subject was required to respond with the hand in line with the response keys. With the hand rotated through 90 in Experiment 5, the V-H effect was eliminated, and a main effect of mapping was observed. The results challenge Bauer and Miller's movement-preference hypothesis and support a referential-coding hypothesis proposed by the author. This assumes that response positions are coded in reference to hand posture, so that physically orthogonal stimulus and response dimensions can overlap with respect to their mental representations. The applicability of this hypothesis to other compatibility effects is demonstrated, and its significance for compatibility theories is briefly discussed.
Planning and Problem solving Using the Five disc Tower of London Task
Authors: Ward Geoff , Allport Alan
Published: September 2011

This paper investigates the planning and problem-solving abilities of normal adult subjects using a complex version of Shallice's (1982, 1988) Tower of London (TOL) task. Subjects were required to plan a fluent solution to a range of 5-disc TOL puzzles and then execute their formulated plans as fast as possible. The number of errors and the times taken to prepare the most efficient solutions increased monotonically with the number of chunks of subgoal moves. A subgoal move is a move that is essential for the solution of the puzzle, but which does not place a disc into its goal position. A subgoal chunk is a consecutive series of subgoal moves that all transfer discs to and from the same pegs. Furthermore, preparation time was found to be sensitive to a manipulation that increased the number of competing alternative choices, at critical steps in move selection. When subjects planned their action sequences “on-line”, analyses of individual moves and individual move latencies suggested that planning TOL solutions was limited by the difficulty in evaluating and selecting one action (or one subgoal chunk) from the set of competing potential actions at each step in the course of problem solving.
Mood congruent Bias in Interpretation of Ambiguity Strategic Processes and Temporary Activation
Authors: Manuel G. Calvo , Castillo M. Dolores
Published: September 2011

Three experiments investigated the tendency of high-anxiety individuals to interpret ambiguous information in a threatening fashion. Priming ambiguous sentences (concerned with ego-threat, physical-threat, or non-threat events) were presented, followed by a disambiguating sentence in which a target word either confirmed or disconfirmed the consequence implied by the priming context. The sentences were presented word-by-word at a predetermined pace. Subjects read the sentences and pronounced the target word (naming task), which appeared either 500 msec or 1,250 msec after the onset of the last word (pre-target word) in the priming context. Results indicated that high-anxiety subjects named target words confirming threats faster than low-anxiety subjects, relative to non-threat words. Furthermore, this interpretative bias is: (a) strategic, rather than automatic, as it occurred with a 1,250-msec SOA, but not with a 500-msec SOA; (b) temporary, as it was found under evaluative stress conditions increasing state anxiety, but not with non-stress; and (c) specific to ego-threats, as it happened with ambiguous information concerning self-esteem and social evaluation, rather than with physical-threat-related information.
Transfer across Form and Modality in Implicit and Explicit Memory
Authors: Berry Dianne C. , Banbury Simon , Henry Lucy
Published: September 2011

Three experiments examined transfer across form (words/pictures) and modality (visual/ auditory) in written word, auditory word, and pictorial implicit memory tests, as well as on a free recall task. Experiment 1 showed no significant transfer across form on any of the three implicit memory tests, and an asymmetric pattern of transfer across modality. In contrast, the free recall results revealed a very different picture. Experiment 2 further investigated the asymmetric modality effects obtained for the implicit memory measures by employing articulatory suppression and picture naming to control the generation of phonological codes. Finally, Experiment 3 examined the effects of overt word naming and covert picture labelling on transfer between study and test form. The results of the experiments are discussed in relation to Tulving and Schacter's (1990) Perceptual Representation Systems framework and Roediger's (1990) Transfer Appropriate Processing theory.
Interference in Immediate Spatial Memory: Shifts of Spatial Attention or Central executive Involvement?
Authors: Klauer Karl Christoph , Stegmaier Ralf
Published: September 2011

Interference in serial spatial memory was investigated in six experiments. Experiment 1 replicated Experiment 2 by Smyth and Scholey (1994) in showing that listening to tones that originated from different directions interfered with spatial memory. Experiment 2 showed, however, that the effect of mere listening was not observed when this was the only interference condition experienced by the subject. In Experiment 3, a binary pitch discrimination task performed on spatially separated tones impaired recall performance to the same extent as did left-right decisions. The same disrupting effect was also observed when the tones were presented from the same direction in the pitch discrimination task (Experiment 4) as well as in a binary loudness discrimination task (Experiment 5). Finally, repeating heard words did not interfere, whereas a pitch discrimination performed on these same words disrupted recall (Experiment 6). It is argued that the disrupting effects reflect not a specifically spatial interference, but a central executive involvement in the rehearsal process in serial spatial memory.
Categorization and Perceptual Learning: An Analogue of the Face Inversion Effect
Authors: McLaren I.P.L.
Published: September 2011

This paper reports two experiments that investigate the extent to which it is plausible to suppose that an associatively based mechanism for perceptual learning acts as the basis for the effects of inversion on identification, recognition, matching and discrimination of faces (and certain other stimuli rendered familiar by expertise, e.g. gundogs). In the first experiment, an inversion effect that is contingent both on familiarity with a category and on the category possessing prototypical structure is demonstrated using discrimination learning of chequerboard stimuli. The second experiment demonstrates that the inversion effect found in Experiment 1 can generalize to a recognition paradigm as well. These results are discussed within the framework provided by associative learning theory, and a parallel is drawn with models employing a norm-based coding in similarity space. The conclusion is that it would be remarkable if the inversion effects demonstrated with the abstract categories used in the experiments reported here were not implicated in the inversion effects found with other classes of stimuli, whilst conceding that the analogy is not complete, particularly in the case of faces.
Differential Effects of Number of Letters on Word and Nonword Naming Latency
Authors: Weekes Brendan S.
Published: September 2011

The issue addressed in this study is whether there are differential effects of number of letters on word and nonword naming latency. Experiment 1 examined the effect of number of letters on latency for naming high-frequency words, low-frequency words, and nonwords. Number of letters affected latency for low-frequency words and nonwords but did not affect latency for high-frequency words. Number of letters was also negatively correlated with number of orthographic neighbours, number of friends, and average grapheme frequency. Number of letters continued to affect nonword naming latency, but not low-frequency word naming latency, after the effects of orthographic neighbourhood size, number of friends, and average grapheme frequency had been accounted for. Experiment 2 found that number of letters had no effect on the latency of delayed naming of the same words and nonwords. It is concluded that the effect of number of letters on nonword naming reflects a sequential, non-lexical reading mechanism.
Effects of Response Probability on Response Force in Simple RT
Authors: Mattes Stefan , Ulrich Rolf , Miller Jeff
Published: September 2011

Response force (RF) was measured in a simple reaction time (RT) experiment varying response uncertainty by cuing the probability of the response on each trial. In all cases, RF decreased as response probability increased. The dependence of RF on response probability was insensitive to foreperiod length and to the use of loud auditory response signals, although the dependence of RT on response probability was sensitive to both of these manipulations. In combination with previous findings, these results provide evidence that RT and RF can be dissociated. We describe an extension of Näätanen's readiness model that can account for the effects of response probability on RF and RT. According to this model, the distance between motor activation and a threshold for action is relatively large when subjects are unprepared, and a large increment is needed to exceed this threshold, resulting in slow but foreceful responses. A possible neurophysiological implementation of this model is suggested.
Evidence for Early Closure Attachment on First Pass Reading Times in French
Authors: Zagar Daniel , Pynte Joel , Rativeau Sylvie
Published: September 2011

An eye-tracking experiment was conducted in French with sentences of the form “N V N1of-N2 who …” Example: “A journalist approached the barrister (male) of the singer (female) who seemed more confident (masculine or feminine gender) than (s)he ought to be.” The results are consistent with those of Cuetos and Mitchell (1988). French readers, like Spanish readers, prefer early closure (and are garden-pathed when the sentence turns out to be a late-closure attachment). This effect was exhibited by first-pass reading times that are usually assumed to reflect initial syntactic commitments. These results are discussed in relation to Frazier and Clifton's recent proposals concerning attachment mechanisms in the case of “non-primary” relationships such as relative clauses, and more precisely the notion that early-closure attachments observed in cross-linguistic studies are determined by relatively late processes.
Teaching by Examples: Implications for the Process of Category Acquisition
Authors: Avrahami Judith , Kareev Yaakov , Bogot Yonatan , Caspi Ruth , Dunaevsky Salomka , Lerner Sharon
Published: September 2011

A new paradigm, the “teaching-by-examples” paradigm, was used to shed new light on the process of category acquisition. In four experiments ( n = 90, 90, 115, 117), manipulating the variables of category structure, status of non-target category, learning mode, and teaching mode, participants first learned a category and then taught it to someone else. High agreement between participants on the teaching sequences was found across conditions, and a typical sequence was identified for each category structure. The typical participant-produced sequences started with several ideal positive cases, followed by an ideal negative case and then borderline cases. The efficiency of such sequences for teaching was tested in another experiment ( n = 60), in which they were compared with sequences emphasizing category borders and sequences emphasizing each dimension separately. The typical participant-produced sequences induced the most efficient learning. It is proposed that the pattern of performance may provide a rich source of data for testing and fine-tuning models of category acquisition.
Rhyme Attenuates the Auditory Suffix Effect: Alliteration Does Not
Authors: Carr Deborah , Miles Christopher
Published: September 2011

Two experiments are reported in each of which subjects were required to recall spoken consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) syllable lists serially. Both experiments contrasted the effects of a rhyming suffix and an alliterative suffix on recall of the terminal list item. A rhyming suffix reliably attenuated the normally robust suffix effect; an alliterative suffix did not. The finding points to the importance of the location rather than the quantity of phonological repetition in determining the size of the suffix effect. In line with Treiman and Danis (1988), it is argued that the onset (C) and rime (VC) components of CVC syllables may exist as separate entites within short-term acoustic memory. This, coupled with the superior durability of the rime component within acoustic memory, affords the subject a greater probability of recalling correctly the terminal list item in the rhyming suffix condition.
A Multinomial Model to Assess Fluency and Recollection in a Sequence Learning Task
Authors: Buchner Axel , Steffens Melanie C. , Erdfelder Edgar , Rothkegel Rainer
Published: September 2011

We suggest that well-formedness judgements in conjunction with L.L. Jacoby's (1991) process dissociation procedure and an appropriate measurement model can be used to obtain measures of implicit and explicit sequence knowledge. We introduce a new measurement model designed specifically for the sequence learning task. The model assumes that sequence identification is based on recollection, perceptual or motor fluency, systematicity detection, and guessing. The model and the application of the process dissociation procedure were empirically evaluated using auditory event sequences. In Experiment 1, the parameter reflecting recollection was higher in an intentional than in an incidental learning condition. Experiment 2 showed that random sequences interspersed among the systematic sequences during the acquisition phase may change this pattern of results. A manipulation of processing fluency in Experiment 3 was reflected in the appropriate model parameter. In sum, the new measurement model and the application of the process dissociation procedure appear to be useful tools in sequence learning research.
Auditory Long term Memory: Repetition Priming of Voice Recognition
Authors: Schweinberger Stefan R. , Herholz Anja , Stief Volker
Published: September 2011

Two experiments examined repetition priming in the recognition of famous voices. In Experiment 1, reaction times for fame decisions to famous voice samples were shorter than in an unprimed condition, when voices were primed by a different voice sample of the same person having been presented in an earlier phase of the experiment. No effect of voice repetition was observed for non-famous voices. In Experiment 2, it was investigated whether this priming effect is voice-specific or whether it is related to post-perceptual processes in person recognition. Recognizing a famous voice was again primed by having earlier heard a different voice sample of that person. Although an earlier exposure to that person's name did not cause any priming, there was some indication of priming following an earlier exposure to that person's face. Finally, earlier exposure to the identical voice sample (as compared to a different voice sample from the same person) caused a considerable bias towards responding “famous”—i.e. performance benefits for famous but costs for nonfamous voices. The findings suggest that (1) repetition priming invoice recognition primarily involves the activation of perceptual representations of voices, and (2) it is important to determine the conditions in which priming causes bias effects that need to be disentangled from performance benefits.
Scheduling Processes in Working Memory: Instructions Control the Order of Memory Search and Mental Arithmetic
Authors: Ehrenstein Addie , Schweickert Richard , Choi Sangsup , Proctor Robert W.
Published: September 2011

Humans must often use working memory to execute processes one at a time because of its limited capacity. Two experiments tested where limits in access to working memory occur. Subjects searched a short-term memory set for one stimulus digit and performed mental arithmetic with another stimulus digit. In one experiment, they were told to carry out the mental arithmetic before the memory search and to make the arithmetic response first. In the other, they were instructed to perform the tasks in the opposite order. The overt responses were executed in the prescribed order. Moreover, the covert working memory processes were executed in the prescribed order, as revealed by a critical path network analysis of reaction times. Results are explained in terms of a double-bottleneck model in which central processes and responses are constrained to be carried out for one task at a time.
The Pseudo prefixation Effect in Visual Word Recognition: A True-Neither Strategic Nor Orthographic-Morphemic Effect
Authors: Pillon Agnesa
Published: September 2011

The question of how word morphology is coded and retrieved during visual word recognition has given rise to a large number of empirical studies. The results, however, do not enable one to decide between alternative models of morphological representation and processing. It is argued in this paper that the contrast between pseudoprefixed words and non-prefixed control words can provide an empirical basis for deciding between hypotheses of morphology representation as sublexical or lexical. This contrast has been used in the three lexical decision experiments reported here, which show that decision times for pseudoprefixed words are significantly slower than for non-prefixed control words. This pseudoprefixation effect strongly supports the hypothesis that morphology is coded and processed sublexically during word recognition. The experimental conditions employed allow both strategic and strictly orthographic explanations for the pseudoprefixation effect to be dismissed.
The Effects of Intermittent Illumination on a Visual Inspection Task
Authors: Kennedy Alan , Brysbaert Marc , Murray Wayne S.
Published: September 2011

Two experiments are described in which eye movements were monitored as subjects performed a simple target-spotting task under conditions of intermittent illumination produced by varying the display-screen frame rate on a computer VDU. In Experiment 1, subjects executed a saccade from a fixation point to a target which appeared randomly at a fixed eccentricity of 14 character positions to the left or right. Saccade latency did not differ reliably as a function of screen refresh rate, but average saccade extent at 70 Hz and 110 Hz was reliably shorter than at 90 Hz and 100 Hz. Experiment 2 examined the same task using a range of target eccentricities (7, 14, and 28 character positions to the left and right) and across a wider range of screen refresh rates. The results confirmed the curvilinear relationship obtained in Experiment 1, with average saccade extent reliably shorter at refresh rates of 50 Hz and 125 Hz than at 75 Hz and 100 Hz. While the effect was greater for remote targets, analyses of the proportional target error failed to show a reliable interaction between target eccentricity and display refresh rate. In contrast to Experiment 1, there was a pronounced effect of refresh rate on saccade latency (corrected for time to write the screen frame), with shorter latencies at higher refresh rates. It may be concluded that pulsation at frequencies above fusion disrupts saccade control. However, the curvilinear functional relationship between screen refresh rate and saccade extent obtained in these studies differs from previously reported effects of intermittent illumination on the average size of “entry saccades” (the first saccade to enter a given word) in a task involving word identification (Kennedy & Murray, 1993a, 1996). This conflict of data may arise in part because within-word adjustments in viewing position, which are typical of normal reading, influence measures of average saccade extent.
Selective Retention of Information about the Superficial Form of Text: Ellipses With Antecedents in Main and Subordinate Clauses
Authors: Garnham Alan , Oakhill Jane , Cain Kate
Published: September 2011

Elliptical verb phrases must be interpreted indirectly, using a representation of the surface form of nearby (usually preceding) text. We used this fact to demonstrate the different availability of superficial representations of the two clauses in main-subordinate pairs. The acceptability of a later ellipsis was reduced when it took its meaning from a main clause that was followed by a subordinate clause, as compared with other combinations. In addition, positive acceptability judgements were made more quickly (1) when the antecedent clause was subordinate, rather than main, suggesting that the superficial form of a subordinate clause is more important, and (2) when the antecedent was in the immediately preceding clause, rather than two clauses back. These results support the idea that the surface form of subordinate clauses is selectively retained until the corresponding main clause has been read, but the surface form of a main clause is not retained after it has been interpreted.