Ventral scent marking in Meriones unguiculatus may contribute to thermoregulation.

Conducted 3 experiments with adult male gerbils to demonstrate that ventral scent marking can act to transfer body heat to the object marked. Exp I, with 16 Ss, showed that surgical removal of the ventral gland pad in 8 Ss reduced the amount of heat transferred by 50%, even though intact and glandless Ss did not differ in the average frequency of scent marking. Exp II, with the same 16 Ss used in Exp I, demonstrated that the difference in heat transfer due to the presence or absence of the scent pad was not due to differential pressure applied to the substrate during marking. Exp III, with 14 Ss, showed that the pattern of ventral hair spread that occurred as an S moved over an object was different between intact and glandless Ss but that this difference did not account for the difference in heat transfer. It is suggested that heat transfer to the environment with ventral scent marking may increase thermoregulatory competence and also may function to volatilize sebum used in chemocommunication. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial and temporal congruity and auditory–visual integration in infants.

The influence of the spatial and temporal relation of auditory and visual stimuli on 6-mo-old infants' perception of these stimuli as attributes of a common object was explored in 4 studies. In Exp I, after familiarization with an object that moved in synchrony with a periodic sound coming from it, the 89 Ss associated the object and sound; they looked more at the familiar than a novel object in the presence of the familiar sound, but not in the presence of a novel sound. Exp II with 22 Ss showed evidence for association following experience in which an object and sound were spatially congruent but exhibited a form of temporal incongruity (continuous movement and periodic sound). In contrast, no evidence of auditory–visual association was shown after familiarization in which the object and sound were temporally congruent but spatially incongruent (Exp III; 21 Ss) or in which object and sound were spatially congruent but exhibited a different form of temporal incongruity (periodic movement and continuous sound; Exp IV with 23 Ss). (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Isolation-induced aggression in newly hatched ducklings.

Describes 3 experiments with a total of 40 Khaki Campbell ducklings. In Exp I newly hatched Ss were initially housed in pairs and subsequently transferred to isolated housing conditions. Ss living with another bird displayed filial behavior and little aggression upon encountering another duckling in a test arena. In contrast, Ss housed in isolation exhibited aggressive pecking in addition to filial behavior when another duckling was subsequently encountered. In Exp II, Ss were housed with an imprinting object (i.e., an object that elicits attachment behavior) but were otherwise isolated from other birds. These Ss displayed little aggression when they were subsequently reunited with a conspecific, indicating that the aggression-precluding effects of social housing are not limited to the particular social stimulus with which the ducklings are housed. In Exp III, Ss were again housed with an imprinting object, but this time the object was behind glass, thereby precluding tactile contact with it. Since these Ss also exhibited little aggression when reunited with a conspecific, it is apparent that visual stimulation from an imprinting object is sufficient in itself to preclude subsequent aggression. Findings suggest that stimulation that elicits attachment behavior is the critical factor mediating isolation-induced aggression. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of group identity on resource use in a simulated commons dilemma.

Used 172 undergraduates in 3 experiments to assess the effects of making salient either a superordinate (collective) or subordinate (differentiating) group identity in heterogeneous groups. In Exp I, 22 male and 36 female Ss were assigned to either a superordinate-group identity (small community resident behavior vs other areas) or a subordinate-group identity (behavior of young people vs elderly people) condition and were asked to perform a computer task individually; Ss were led to believe they were interacting with 5 other persons (2 real and 3 bogus Ss) in their group in accumulating as many points as possible while making the resource last as long as possible. Bogus feedback about group behavior was given. In Exp II, 29 male and 19 female Ss were told that the bogus Ss were economics majors and were asked to perform as in Exp I. In Exp III, the level of social-group identity for 40 male and 26 female Ss was manipulated by varying the common fate of the group members. Results of all 3 experiments show support for the hypothesis that individual restraint would be most likely when a superordinate group identity was made salient and under conditions in which feedback indicated that the common resource was being depleted. A sex-response difference found in Exp I was not sustained in subsequent experiments. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for pictures: Does an age-related decline exist?

Examined the effects of varying detail on memory. In Exp I, pictorial embellishment was varied by presenting 27 Ss aged 60+ yrs and 30 undergraduates with normal photographs, high-contrast photographs, or line drawings, and testing their memory immediately and 4 wks later. All of the Ss did best with the most elaborate pictures (normal photographs), and old Ss remembered as well as young at the immediate but not at the delayed interval. In Exp II, with 21 old Ss and 21 18–36 yr olds, detail was varied by adding background to line drawings of a central object. Ss of both ages profited from enhanced background detail, and there were no differences in memory as a function of age. Exp III replicated Exp II, except that Ss (10 elderly and 17 college students) studied the pictures under divided attention conditions. Again, Ss of both ages recognized elaborate pictures best, and no significant age differences emerged. Results suggest that old and young adults profit from visual embellishment and that memory for meaningful pictures remains relatively intact with age. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The locus of inhibition in the priming of static objects: Object token versus location.

The inhibition witnessed in the negative priming effect has been accounted for by positing an object file containing both identity and location information. In the present study, 4 experiments with 31 human Ss replicate the negative priming effect and, using new dual-target conditions where Ss respond to the target first perceived on a 2-target forced-choice probe trial, suggest that location alone could account for the observed inhibition. Exp 1 establishes a reaction time (RT) baseline for the new dual-target conditions, whereas Exps 2 and 3 replicate previously found single-target effects under dual-target conditions. Exp 4 allows a concurrent determination of the inhibition accruing to both the target and distractor. The results are discussed relative to the likely existence of different kinds of inhibition which reveal themselves as a function of task demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sampling of similar and dissimilar comparison persons and objects as a function of the generality of attribution goal.

Conducted an information-search procedure in which Ss were asked to seek information regarding persons and objects in order to validate a given person or object cause. Four hypotheses were tested: When asked to validate a person cause, Ss are more likely to select distinctiveness information than target-object consensus information. When asked to validate an object cause, Ss are more likely to select target-object consensus information than distinctiveness information. As the generality of person inference increases, progressively dissimilar object comparisons are sought. As the generality of object inference increases, progressively dissimilar person comparisons are sought. In Exp I, 26 undergraduates read attitude statements and answered judgment goals or questions about the statement's generality or object inference. 52 undergraduates in Exp II completed a similar task. The first 3 hypotheses were supported in both Exp I and Exp II, whereas the 4th hypothesis received only mixed support in Exp I and was not supported in Exp II. Unlike Exp I, Exp II did not include cues suggesting the relevant type of information to be sought. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imprinting: Effects of discrepancy from rearing conditions on approach to a familiar imprinting object in a novel situation.

For the purpose of manipulating a discrepancy between rearing and testing conditions, Arbor Acre?×?Vantress chicks were individually raised with an imprinting object in small or large cages and were given a series of approach trials to the object in a larger novel chamber at 48 hrs of age. In Exp I, 56 Ss were raised in small or large cages with either a blue ball or piece of yellow sponge. Throughout testing, large-cage Ss, for which the chamber was less discrepant, approached more quickly than small-cage Ss. On later trials, Ss raised with the blue ball came to approach more quickly than those raised with the yellow sponge. In Exp II, 64 Ss were again raised with an object in small or large cages, but half were inside transparent inner cages which restricted movement of those chicks to the area of the small cages but maintained the perceptual differences between large and small cages. Large-cage chicks again approached the imprinting object more quickly in testing, regardless of the presence of the inner cages. Results confirm the perceptual-learning hypothesis that the degree to which chicks respond to a test chamber as novel determines the approach to an imprinting object. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention within auditory word perception: Insights from the phonemic restoration illusion.

Conducted 2 experiments to determine the extent to which attention plays a role in the phonemic restoration illusion and to infer from this the nature of attention in auditory word perception. Exp I examined the effect of training on the magnitude of the phonemic restoration illusion. 24 Ss received training with the potentially restorable stimuli (972 trials with feedback); in addition, the presence or absence of an attentional cue, contained in a visual prime preceeding each trial, was varied between groups of Ss. Findings reveal that cuing the identity and location of the critical phoneme of each test word allowed Ss to attend to the critical phoneme, thereby inhibiting the illusion, but only when the prime also identified the test word itself. Exp II was a 2-part replication of Exp I, using 92 Ss and some modifications of the conditions. Results show that when the prime provided only the identity or location of the critical phoneme, or only the identity of the word, Ss performed identically to those Ss for whom the prime contained no information at all about the test word. Training did not produce any generalized learning about the types of stimuli used. Results indicate that attention is necessary to perceive phonemic units selectively and is focused through the level that has primacy in the perception of spoken words, the mental lexicon. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The recognition of visual configuration and identity information by children and adults.

The tendency to rely on and the ability to remember configuration and identity information were examined in Exp I with 24 kindergartners, 3rd, and 6th graders, and paid graduate students and university employees. Ss saw, tachistoscopically, arrays of 4 Hebrew letters and, in one condition, made recognition choices between 2 incorrect arrays, one of which differed from the stimulus by items and the other by configuration. In 2 other conditions in which accurate response was permitted, ability to use configuration and item information independently was tested. All Ss tended to rely more on configuration than on identity information and were better able to use configuration than identity information. In a 2nd experiment with 19 Ss from the same age-groups as Exp I, it was established that the items could be remembered under explicit instructions to remember items and ignore configuration. By altering the configuration of items it was possible to produce item recognition decrements in younger, but not older, Ss. It is concluded that development aids visual processing, particularly through a functional integration of systems for handling identity and spatial information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autistic children's difficulty with mental disengagement from an object: Its implications for theories of autism.

Exp 1 demonstrated that autistic Ss continue to fail a task originally designed as one of strategic deception when there is no opponent present: They perseveratively indicate the target object. The authors argue that this behavior is better explained in terms of failing to disengage from an object than in terms of a theory-of-mind deficit. To ensure that their difficulties were not due to failure to construe the task in a competitive manner, the authors ran a 2nd study, on detour reaching. Compared with control Ss, the autistic Ss had great difficulty with the task. Children's difficulties with these 2 tasks are discussed in light of recent evidence that autism is associated with failing executive tasks, and it is argued that viewing the syndrome as an executive deficit has clear advantages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Search for a conjunctively defined target can be selectively limited to a color-defined subset of elements.

In conjunction search, response latencies usually increase with the number of displayed elements, suggesting serial, self-terminating search through all elements. In line with the results of H. Egeth, R. Virzi, and H. Garbart (1984), the present study shows that Ss do not necessarily search all display elements, but can limit their search to a color-defined subset of elements. The results make clear that selective search for a color-defined subset does not depend on saliency of the subset (Exp 1), that selective search can be purely color-based and does not depend on luminance (Exp 2), and that Ss can flexibly change which subset they are searching (Exp 3). Exp 4 showed that subset-selective search also occurs without fast absent responses as found in Exps 1–3 and that for selective search no explicit instruction is required. Subset-selective search is a likely strategy in conjunction search. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of object movement on infants' decision of object structure.

Explored the 6-mo-old's ability to recognize an object in a new orientation after being familiarized with the object while it was moving. In Exp I with a total of 58 Ss, there were 4 experimental conditions in which the object moved in different ways during familiarization and a control in which movement was minimal. The Ss in 3 of the movement conditions showed significant differentiation between the novel and familiar objects, whereas Ss in the control group did not, suggesting that movement does facilitate recognition. In the condition in which the infants could observe continuous transformations from one orientation to the next, there was no significant differentiation; the data suggest that the apparent difficulty in this case was due, in general, to the complexity of the movement and, in particular, to rotation. Translatory movement seemed to be the most effective in helping the Ss learn to recognize the object regardless of its orientation. Exp II, with 24 Ss, confirmed that 6-mo-olds learn or detect an object's structure faster during translation than during rotation. The role of optical change in the detection of an object's invariant structure is discussed. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for pictures of upright and inverted primate faces in humans (Homo sapiens), squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus), and pigeons (Columba livia).

Humans (Homo sapiens) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) were tested for memory of upright and inverted primate faces. Working memory was tested in Exp 1 with a delayed matching-to-sample procedure, and reference memory was examined in Exp 2 by requiring Ss to learn to discriminate between successive pairs of upright or inverted pictures. Both human and monkey subjects showed better working memory for upright than for inverted human faces and better reference memory for upright than for inverted human and great ape faces. In Exp 3, reference memory tests with pigeons (Columba livia) showed no effects of inversion on rate of learning with face pictures. We argue that these findings cannot be explained easily by an individual primate's lifetime experiences with primate faces. We suggest that similar evolved mechanisms for primate face recognition in people and monkeys are responsible for the pattern of data reported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Object permanence in adult cats (Felis catus).

Human analog tests of object permanence were administered to 14 adult cats to assess as accurately as possible their developmental level in this particular cognitive capacity and to analyze their search behavior in situations in which an object has disappeared. Exp I compared 2 groups, one that received the tests in their usual order of presentation and another that received first the invisible displacement tests and then the visible displacement tests. Results conflict with previous research conducted by E. Triana and R. Pasnak (see record 1982-00510-001): The Ss in the present experiment were able to solve problems with visible displacements but failed with invisible displacement. Exp II compared 2 modalities of object disappearance. The object was hidden under a cover through either its front or its rear panel. This experiment confirmed, in a 5-choice hiding task, that cats are unable to understand invisible displacements. Ss searched for the object in the last location they had seen it disappear or under the nearest cover from this location. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anticipatory imagery and spatial operations.

Performed 5 experiments with approximately 152 students in Grades 1-5 to identify levels of children's operatory development on a task requiring the transformation of objects in accord with stipulated rotations through space and to determine whether observed operatory levels would predict performance on tasks requiring other types of imagined movements. In Exp I, Ss anticipated the results of rotating an object 180Deg.. Three types of imagery performance were found: transposition, in which change of location was acknowledged but changes in the object's features were not; transformation, in which changes of location were coordinated with changes in the object's features; and intermediate, which included elements of the 2 other approaches. These approaches were correlated with age. In Exp II and III, findings were replicated with 90Deg. rotation and with the referent object shielded from sight. In Exp IV, Ss were assessed on a version of the traditional perspective-taking task. Degree of success was lowest for Ss who had manifested spatial transposition on the rotation problem. Finally, in Exp V, Ss from each grade who took extreme approaches were studied. Again, performance on rotation was related to perspective taking and also to imagining water level in a tilted bottle. (1971) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of out-group cues in determining social identity.

Examined the role of out-group cues in determining social identity and guiding behavior in 2 experiments with 131 undergraduates. In Exp I, Ss were exposed to a cue either of an in-group (Ss' college), a relevant out-group (a rival college), or an irrelevant out-group (a baseball team). Ss examined a list of words and were later asked to recognize those they had seen from a larger list in which words related to the 3 groups were embedded. Results indicate that Ss made more false recognitions of in-group related words when a relevant out-group was salient than when an irrelevant out-group was salient. Exp II tested a behavioral implication of Exp I: Out-group salience increases adherence to an in-group norm. In the 1st phase of Exp II, Ss were divided into 2 groups and deliberated 2 civil suits. Ss' in-group favored the plaintiffs for both cases. Ss were divided into new groups for the 2nd phase, and the same procedure was followed. This time, however, the in-group favored the defendants. In the 3rd phase, Ss were exposed to a cue either of the out-group in Phase 1 or Phase 2. Ss' judgments for 2 new cases were biased in the direction of the norm of the in-group that was associated with the salient out-group. Ss favored the plaintiff (or defendant) when the 1st (or 2nd) out-group was salient. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Episodic encoding of voice attributes and recognition memory for spoken words.

Recognition memory for spoken words was investigated with a continuous recognition memory task. Independent variables were number of intervening words (lag) between initial and subsequent presentations of a word, total number of talkers in the stimulus set, and whether words were repeated in the same voice or a different voice. In Exp 1, recognition judgments were based on word identity alone. Same-voice repetitions were recognized more quickly and accurately than different-voice repetitions at all values of lag and at all levels of talker variability. In Exp 2, recognition judgments were based on both word identity and voice identity. Ss recognized repeated voices quite accurately. Gender of the talker affected voice recognition but not item recognition. These results suggest that detailed information about a talker's voice is retained in long-term memory representations of spoken words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repetition and recall in an incidental-memory paradigm.

Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 120 college students. In Exp I, Ss given incidental-memory instructions free-recalled object phrases presented twice at lags of 0, 5, 10, and 20 intervening events. Repetition of an object phrase in the same sentence produced a massed-distributed effect which was eliminated when the object phrase was presented in 2 different sentences. In Exp II the repetition of an object phrase in the same sentence again produced a massed-distributed difference. A distributed-lag effect was found when Ss were instructed to either produce the same completion to both occurrences of a repeated sentence or to generate a new completion for the second occurrence. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)