Locus of the single-channel bottleneck in dual-task interference.

Two experiments used the locus-of-cognitive-slack method to determine whether dual-task interference occurs before or after the response selection stage. The experiments used the overlapping tasks paradigm, in which 2 signals, each requiring a different speeded choice response, are presented in rapid succession. In Exp 1, stimulus–response (S–R) compatibility was manipulated by varying whether Task 2 stimuli were mapped onto their responses by a rule or arbitrarily. Compatibility effects were additive with the effects of degree of task overlap, manipulated by varying the stimulus onset asynchrony between the signals. Exp 2 examined 2 additional forms of S–R compatibility: symbolic compatibility (arrows vs letters) and spatial compatibility (the "Simon" effect). Effects of symbolic compatibility were additive with effects of degree of task overlap, whereas the effects of spatial compatibility and degree of task overlap were underadditive. It is argued that only a central-bottleneck model provides a consistent account of these results. The nature of the central bottleneck is considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Solve the problem first: Constructive solution strategies can influence the accuracy of retrospective confidence judgments.

Two experiments tested whether differences in problem-solving strategies influence the ability of people to monitor their problem-solving effectiveness as measured by confidence judgments. On multiple choice problems, people tend to use either a constructive matching strategy, whereby they attempt to solve a problem before looking at the response options, or a response elimination strategy, whereby they work backward from response options trying to find one that fits as a solution. Constructive matching gives rise to different cues that may enhance confidence monitoring. Experiment 1 showed that spontaneous constructive matching in nonverbal spatial reasoning problems was associated with better confidence calibration and resolution than response elimination. We manipulated strategy in Experiment 2 by requiring constructive matching and found improved monitoring. Implications for research on monitoring, overconfidence, and the association between skill and monitoring are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Item and order information in spatial memory.

14 male Holtzman albino rats were taught to perform order and item discriminations in an 8-arm radial maze. In Exp I, 2 groups of Ss learned different order discriminations with reward contingent on repeating or avoiding the most recently visited of 2 locations. Each trial began with a random order of 8 forced choices and ended with a choice between the 1st and 7th arms. Rate of learning depended on the compatibility of reward contingencies and preexperimental response biases. In Exp II, each trial began with a list of 7 forced choices and ended in a choice between either the 1st or 6th arm and the arm not presented; accuracy of performing these item discriminations depended on both serial position and the response tendencies acquired in Exp I. In Exp III, a 1-hr postlist delay impaired the order discrimination more than the item discrimination, and the effects of intertrial interval depended on previously acquired response biases. Results are discussed in terms of a 2-stage model that segregates a single memory process from decision/response processes. Item and order discriminations do not appear to be based on separate sources of information and do not appear to require fundamentally different memory processes. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scalar expectancy theory and choice between delayed rewards.

In this article scalar expectancy theory is applied to variable and fixed delays to reward. It is assumed that all delays are represented in memory with scalar variance and that subjects choose between alternatives by sampling from the memory distributions associated with each and choosing the smaller delay. This simple scheme is shown to entail four common findings in the choice literature: (a) approximate matching of choice ratios to reward ratios (the matching law) when both alternatives are associated with variable delays scheduled with constant probability; (b) undermatching, in which choice is closer to indifference than matching, when both alternatives are variable but scheduled with uniform distributions; (c) overmatching, in which choice is more extreme than matching, when both alternatives are fixed delays; and (d) preference for variable delays scheduled with a constant probability over fixed delays. Overmatching and Weber's law are illustrated in experiments using the time-left procedure (Gibbon & Church, 1981). The preference for variable delay is demonstrated in this procedure, followed by study of a unique variable schedule of delays for which the theoretical account predicts, and the data confirm, the elimination of the preference for variability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategy compatibility, scale compatibility, and the prominence effect.

Ss expressed preferences between pairs of decision alternatives characterized by 2 attributes (e.g., price and quality). They were more likely to prefer the alternative that was superior with respect to the most important attribute when making choices and strength-of-preference judgments than when making matching and monetary-equivalent value judgments. Rating scale judgments fell between these 2 extremes. These findings extend the previously established choice vs matching prominence effect (A. Tversky et al, 1988) to a more general qualitative vs quantitative task prominence effect. The data support the strategy-compatibility interpretation of the prominence effect. They also show that in riskless decision making, the generalized prominence effect is much stronger than simple scale-compatibility effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Molecules and morphology: conflicts and congruence within the fern genus Trichomanes (Hymenophyllaceae)

The interaction between three independent data sets (anatomy/morphology, cytology, molecules) has been evaluated within the controversial genus Trichomanes (Hymenophyllaceae). Anatomy/morphology, cytology, and rbcL sequences, despite their high and significant level of incongruence, were thus empirically combined with differential weighting in a cladistic analysis within Trichomanes in order to give an appreciation of the contribution of each data set in the resulting topologies and to study more precisely the nature of potential conflicts. Results show that any standard statistics values (such as bootstrap) do not appear to be objectively useful for the choice of the "best" topology or the "good" clades provided by the combination. This weighting approach reveals three cases: (i) some clades (such as subgenus Didymoglossum) are always retrieved and correspond to the absence of conflicts between the different data, (ii) some new clades (such as subgenus Achomanes) are either provided or reenforced as a "synergetic" result of the combination of the data and (iii) that remaining conflicting clades reflect the persistence of incongruence between data whatever the weighting.     

The effects of lighting on the perception of facial surfaces.

A series of experiments is reported that investigated the effects of variations in lighting and viewpoint on the recognition and matching of facial surfaces. In matching tasks, changing lighting reduced performance, as did changing view, but changing both did not further reduce performance. There were also differences between top and bottom lighting. Recognizing familiar surfaces and matching across changes in viewpoint were more accurate when lighting was from above than when it was from below the heads, and matching between different directions of top lighting was more accurate than between different directions of bottom lighting. Top lighting also benefited matching between views of unfamiliar objects (amoebae), though this benefit was not found for inverted faces. The results are difficult to explain if edge- or image-based representations mediate face processing and seem more consistent with an account in which lighting from above helps the derivation of 3-dimensional shape. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of variables affecting choice and application to classroom interventions.

Reports the results of a brief, computer-based assessment of reinforcer dimensions affecting choice and the application of information yielded by the assessment in informing interventions for classroom disruptions of 2 students (aged 10 & 11 yrs) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The assessment involved successive presentations of 2 concurrent sets of math problem options, each of which was associated with competing reinforcer or response dimensions (reinforcer rate, quality, delay, and response effort) in a counterbalanced fashion. The results showed that choice (time allocated problems within each set) was differentially affected by the reinforcer or response dimensions. The authors then investigated the effectiveness of interventions informed by the assessment in reducing the students' classroom disruptions. Following baseline, levels of the reinforcer dimension shown by the assessment to be most influential were alternated in the context of a reversal design. For 1 student, the authors evaluated the effects of immediate versus delayed access to reinforcers contingent on not exceeding a specified number of daily disruptions. For the other student, they evaluated the effects of high quality versus low quality reinforcers on the rate of disruptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of structural and naming factors of letters upon the recognition of tachistoscopic letters (author''s transl)

To determine the nature of effects of a preceding letter stimulus upon the recognition of a following letter stimulus, 20 subjects were sequentially and tachistoscopically presented pairs of letters of pairs of random patterns, which consist of the same number of elements, and asked to judge whether they were "same" or "different" in form. Four variable interstimulus intervals (ISI) between the 1st stimuli and the 2nd stimuli were employed as parameters. Results obtained were as follows: (a) percentages of correct responses for the letters were not significantly different from those for the random patterns, and (b) percentages of correct responses for the "same" matching tasks were significantly higher than those for the "different" matching tasks, but, differences in number of correct responses between the two tasks diminished as ISI increased. These results reveal structural, rather than naming, effects of preceding letters in the information processing of matching single letters.     

Imitative response tendencies following observation of intransitive actions.

Clear and unequivocal evidence shows that observation of object affordances or transitive actions facilitates the activation of a compatible response. By contrast, the evidence showing response facilitation following observation of intransitive actions is less conclusive because automatic imitation and spatial compatibility have been confounded. Three experiments tested whether observation of a finger movement (i.e., an intransitive action) in a choice reaction-time task facilitates the corresponding finger movement response because of imitation, a common spatial code, or some combination of both factors. The priming effects of a spatial and an imitative stimulus were tested in combination (Experiment 1), in opposition (Experiment 2), and independently (Experiment 3). Contrary to previous findings, the evidence revealed significant contributions from both automatic imitation and spatial compatibility, but the priming effects from an automatic tendency to imitate declined significantly across a block of trials whereas the effects of spatial compatibility remained constant or increased slightly. These differential effects suggest that priming associated with automatic imitation is mediated by a different regime than priming associated with spatial compatibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-motivational effects of inescapable shock are associative in nature.

An appetitive choice discrimination test was used to assess the relative contribution of activity and associative effects of inescapable shock (IS) in a cross-motivational paradigm. A 2-response nosepoke test was used following IS treatment. In Exp I, male Holtzman rats demonstrated separate associative and activity effects of IS. Ss exposed to IS made more incorrect responses than controls and were lower in activity. Exp II demonstrated that these effects resulted from the uncontrollability of the shock, not from shock exposure per se. In Exp III, residual effects of IS were investigated by exposing Ss to discrimination reversals. On these tests, shocked Ss showed performance inferior to nonshocked controls, a result indicating that the effects of IS were not completely reversed by experience with contingent reward in the discrimination task. Results suggest that associative factors play a more important role than activity reduction in mediating the effects of IS, at least when these are measured in an appetitive context. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision processes in personnel selection.

Reviews some of the research on decision making in personnel selection, with special attention to the greater weighting of unfavorable information in selection decisions and to the nature of causal attributions in the personnel interview. A 2-stage selection model is proposed in which decision makers first make attributions about the applicant and then categorize the applicant either as matching or not matching the dimensions of the category "good worker" as determined by deviance from the prototype "ideal worker." The attribution process ends when sufficient dimensions have been evaluated to provide a match or mismatch, and the length of the process should vary as a function of such factors as the number of dimensions, their clarity and specificity, and the accountability of the decision maker. It is suggested that job applicants perform a parallel decision-making process to match their needs and the perceived ability of the organization to meet them. (French abstract) (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Missing information in selection: An application of the Einhorn-Hogarth ambiguity model.

This article argues that the devaluation of options with missing information, found in previous research, is a specific example of ambiguity avoidance in choice. H. J. Einhorn and R. M. Hogarth's (see record 1986-13621-001) ambiguity model was used to make predictions concerning responses to missing information in an employee-selection context. A within-subjects design was used to test the hypothesis that decision makers would avoid options with missing information when they were anticipating gain, but they would prefer such options when they were anticipating loss. Degree of ambiguity was expected to interact with this effect. The results supported the hypothesized effect of decision-maker perspective on choice. However, although there was a significant interaction between decision-maker perspective and degree of ambiguity, it was not of the nature that was predicted by the Einhorn-Hogarth model. Generalized pessimism was negatively correlated with preferences for missing-information options. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Idiosyncratic weighting of trait information in impression formation.

Analyzes the role of unequal weighting (UW) in the averaging model of information integration. A distinction is made between UW at the normative level (which has been referred to as "differential weighting") and UW at the level of the individual S (which is here called "idiosyncratic weighting"—IW). The prevalence of IW in the trait-judgment impression formation task was examined in 2 studies. Whereas most past research on the question of UW in this task involved averaging responses across both Ss and stimulus replications, the present studies were analyzed at the level of an individual S's repeated responses to separate stimulus replications. Clear evidence of IW was obtained from half of the 120 undergraduate Ss; only 20% of Ss indicated no tendency toward UW. There was no evidence that IW was restricted to just a subset of stimuli, since all of the 20 stimulus replications showed IW effects. In more than 20% of the instances of UW, the more positive trait was accorded a higher weight. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Action-effect codes in and before the central bottleneck: Evidence from the psychological refractory period paradigm.

Voluntary motor actions aim at and are thus governed by predictable action effects. Therefore, representations of an action's effects normally must become activated prior to the action itself. In 5 psychological refractory period experiments the authors investigated whether the activation of such effect representations coincides with the response selection stage of information-processing theories. Participants performed 2 choice reaction tasks, separated by variable stimulus onset asynchronies. The authors varied the compatibility between responses and forthcoming sensorial effects (Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 5) or between responses and effect-resembling stimuli (Experiments 4 and 5) in one of the tasks. They observed that compatibility influences from forthcoming (anticipated) response effects were located within the response selection bottleneck, whereas compatibility influences from action-preceding (perceived) effects were due to processes before the bottleneck. These results point to a crucial role of the endogenous activation of action-effect representations for the selection of voluntary motor responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of nonmemorial factors on manifestation of short-sample biases in choice and successive matching-to-duration tasks with pigeons.

The effects of procedural modifications of choice and successive matching tasks on retention of event duration (2- and 10-sec presentations of light) were examined. In accord with prior results, retention testing revealed that accuracy on short- and long-sample trials declined symmetrically in standard successive matching but asymmetrically (i.e., markedly on long-sample trials, and very little on short-sample trials) in standard choice matching. Moreover, asymmetrical retention functions were also obtained in (1) a modified successive task in which all trials ended in reinforcement and (2) a modified choice task in which the penalty for incorrect responding was substantially reduced. It was concluded that pigeons code duration analogically in both standard choice and successive matching tasks, and that such coding is manifest in asymmetrical retention functions only in the absence of a response bias engendered by the standard successive procedure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in choice satisfaction: A positivity effect in decision making.

The authors tested the possibility that older adults show a positivity effect in decision making, by giving younger and older adults the opportunity to choose 1 of 4 products and by examining the participants' satisfaction with their choice. The authors considered whether requiring participants to explicitly evaluate the options before making a choice has an effect on age differences in choice satisfaction. Older adults in the evaluation condition listed more positive and fewer negative attributes than did younger adults and were more satisfied with their decisions than were younger adults. There were no age differences among those who did not evaluate options. This evaluation-dependent elevation of satisfaction among older adults was still present when participants were contacted 2 weeks after the experiment. Age did not influence the accuracy with which participants predicted how their satisfaction would change over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)