On the necessity of alignment: Reply to Costello and Keane (2001).

In their article, "Testing two theories of conceptual combination: Alignment versus diagnosticity in the comprehension and production of combined concepts," F. J. Costello and M. T. Keane (see record 2000-14052-015) evaluate the role of alignment in the interpretation of noun–noun combinations. They found that participants were not strongly biased to prefer and produce interpretations with alignable differences. Instead, participants sometimes preferred and produced interpretations with nonalignable differences. These results are surprising given that most research has found advantages of alignable differences over nonalignable differences. Costello and Keane also found that feature diagnosticity better predicted their results, and they concluded that alignment does not play an important role in conceptual combination. However, drawing on recent work, the author of the present article gives an alternative interpretation of Costello and Keane's results, showing that alignment is crucial in conceptual combinations. The author also shows that the dual-process model accounts for their results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similar and different: The differentiation of basic-level categories.

Categories in the middle level of a taxonomic hierarchy tend to be highly differentiated in that they have both high levels of within-category similarity and low levels of between-category similarity. Research on similarity reveals a distinction between pairs of categories that are seen as dissimilar because they have few commonalities and pairs that are seen as dissimilar because they have many psychologically relevant alignable differences. The authors suggest that the low between-category similarity proposed for neighboring basic-level categories is actually a matter of having many psychologically relevant differences. In contrast, the low between-category similarity of superordinates is a result of their having few commonalities. The authors evaluate this claim in 4 experiments using a variety of natural stimuli and converging measures. The data support the importance of alignable differences for distinguishing between pairs of basic-level categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing two theories of conceptual combination: Alignment versus diagnosticity in the comprehension and production of combined concepts.

People often interpret novel noun–noun combinations by transferring a property from one constituent concept of the combination to the other. Two theories make different predictions about these "property" interpretations. Dual-processing theory predicts that properties transferred will be diagnostic properties of the concepts in which they originate. An experimental study tested these contrasting predictions in interpretation comprehension and interpretation production tasks. The results showed that participants reliably preferred diagnostic property interpretations, whether alignable or nonalignable, in both tasks. There was no reliable preference for alignable interpretations in either task. This confirms constraint theory's predictions about property interpretations and goes against the predictions of dual-process theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The length of the retention interval, forgetting, and subjective similarity.

A long retention interval tends to result in the poor retention known as forgetting. A high subjective similarity between stimuli frequently produces their poor retention. Thus, a long retention interval may increase the subjective similarity between stimuli (the RIISS hypothesis), and this increase may produce forgetting. To examine this hypothesis, college students made speeded same-different discriminations between two lines or tones of different lengths or frequencies that were 400 ms or 3,300 ms apart, and they rated the similarity of these stimuli. The long interval produced poorer overall performance as expected, but also produced poorer performance on different than same stimuli, implying that it increased the subjective similarity between the initial and subsequent stimuli, and it also increased rated similarity, in support of the RIISS hypothesis. The position that stored stimuli lose less common information than distinctive information explains RIISS evidence better than does perturbation theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attribute criteriality and sex-linked conservatism as determinants of psychological similarity.

"Two hypotheses were proposed: 1… . One event is more likely to be judged similar to a standard event if the two differ on some property which… has not been learned as criterial for defining it, than if this property has been learned as criterial for its definition. 2… . When presented with events of varying criterial difference from a standard, females should judge fewer of these events as similar to the standard than males, on the ground that the former tend to categorize more narrowly… . It was concluded that recognition of similarity depends on learned classification rules and on individual differences in conceptual conservatism." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison and Contrast in Perceptual Categorization.

People categorized pairs of perceptual stimuli that varied in both category membership and pairwise similarity. Experiments 1 and 2 showed categorization of 1 color of a pair to be reliably contrasted from that of the other. This similarity-based contrast effect occurred only when the context stimulus was relevant for the categorization of the target (Experiment 3). The effect was not simply owing to perceptual color contrast (Experiment 4), and it extended to pictures from common semantic categories (Experiment 5). Results were consistent with a sign-and-magnitude version of N. Stewart and G. D. A. Brown's (2005) similarity-dissimilarity generalized context model, in which categorization is affected by both similarity to and difference from target categories. The data are also modeled with criterion setting theory (M. Treisman & T. C. Williams, 1984), in which the decision criterion is systematically shifted toward the mean of the current stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality predictors of artistic preferences as a function of the emotional valence and perceived complexity of paintings.

This study explored associations among the Big Five personality factors, unconventionality, selected demographics, and preference for 4 distinct visual art genres (portraiture, abstract art, geometric art, and impressionism). In total, 3,254 participants completed an online survey assessing individual difference and preference ratings for different paintings. Participants were also asked to rate each observed painting for emotional liking and perceived complexity, which enabled examination of whether personality could predict artistic preferences when the latter was classified on the basis of consensual, rather than researcher-led or art historical, taxonomies. Correlations and structural equation models showed that the correlates and predictors of artistic preferences were stronger when art was classified using consensual ratings (particularly in the case of complex art) than according to researcher-led or art historical taxonomies. Although these findings are somewhat exploratory and more comprehensive measures of individual differences and art preferences could be employed, they suggest that trait-congruent classifications of aesthetic stimuli may improve prediction and understanding of individual differences in artistic preferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Value and the accentuation of judged differences: A confirmation.

"Subjects were requested to estimate the diameter of two coins differing in size and value, and presented successively. Unfamiliar coins of identical sizes, similar design, and identical texture and brightness were used as control stimuli. The results show that judged differences between the current coins are significantly larger than the judged differences between the control stimuli, and provide evidence that this phenomenon is much more consistent and clear-cut than simple overestimation due to value." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Golonka and Estes (2009).

Reports an error in the article “Thematic relations affect similarity via commonalities,” by Sabrina Golonka and Zachary Estes (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 1454–1464). The error terms reported in Table 2 (p. 1458) were mislabeled as standard deviations; they are actually standard errors. (The abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-19590-006). Thematic relations are an important source of perceived similarity. For instance, the rowing theme of boats and oars increases their perceived similarity. The mechanism of this effect, however, has not been specified previously. The authors investigated whether thematic relations affect similarity by increasing commonalities or by decreasing differences. In Experiment 1, thematic relations affected similarity more than difference, thereby producing a noninversion of similarity and difference. Experiment 2 revealed substantial individual variability in the preference for thematic relations and, consequently, in the noninversion of ratings. In sum, the experiments demonstrated a noninversion of similarity and difference that was caused by thematic relations and exhibited primarily by a subgroup of participants. These results indicate that thematic relations affect perceived similarity by increasing the contribution of commonalities rather than by decreasing the contribution of differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thematic relations affect similarity via commonalities.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 36(1) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2009-24668-017). In the article “Thematic Relations Affect Similarity via Commonalities,” by Sabrina Golonka and Zachary Estes (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 1454–1464), the error terms reported in Table 2 (p. 1458) were mislabeled as standard deviations; they are actually standard errors.] Thematic relations are an important source of perceived similarity. For instance, the rowing theme of boats and oars increases their perceived similarity. The mechanism of this effect, however, has not been specified previously. The authors investigated whether thematic relations affect similarity by increasing commonalities or by decreasing differences. In Experiment 1, thematic relations affected similarity more than difference, thereby producing a noninversion of similarity and difference. Experiment 2 revealed substantial individual variability in the preference for thematic relations and, consequently, in the noninversion of ratings. In sum, the experiments demonstrated a noninversion of similarity and difference that was caused by thematic relations and exhibited primarily by a subgroup of participants. These results indicate that thematic relations affect perceived similarity by increasing the contribution of commonalities rather than by decreasing the contribution of differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Implicit Association Test as a General Measure of Similarity.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is widely used as a measure of semantic similarity (i.e., associations in semantic memory). The results of previous research and of a new study show that IAT effects can, however, also be based on other types of similarity between stimuli. We therefore put forward the hypothesis that the IAT provides a general measure of similarity. Given that similarity is highly dynamic and context-dependent, our view that the IAT measures similarity is compatible with existing evidence showing that IAT effects are highly malleable. We provide further evidence for this in a new study in which the outcome of an IAT depended on whether the perceptual or functional characteristics of the stimuli were made salient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarities between alanine dehydrogenase and the N-terminal part of pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase and their possible implication in the virulence mechanism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Recent developments in simultaneous multiple alignment methods of protein sequences allow prediction of structural similarity in related proteins. Alanine dehydrogenase and the N-terminal sequence of pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase were compared for their sequences. High similarities of sequences were observed especially in their NAD(H)-binding sites. These similarities suggest that antibodies which recognized the alanine dehydrogenase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can also be directed against the membrane bound pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase. If this is the case, the virulent property of this pathogen could be linked to its higher synthesis of NADPH necessary for its anabolism.     

Representation of spectral and temporal sound features in three cortical fields of the cat. Similarities outweigh differences

This study investigates the degree of similarity of three different auditory cortical areas with respect to the coding of periodic stimuli. Simultaneous single- and multiunit recordings in response to periodic stimuli were made from primary auditory cortex (AI), anterior auditory field (AAF), and secondary auditory cortex (AII) in the cat to addresses the following questions: is there, within each cortical area, a difference in the temporal coding of periodic click trains, amplitude-modulated (AM) noise bursts, and AM tone bursts? Is there a difference in this coding between the three cortical fields? Is the coding based on the temporal modulation transfer function (tMTF) and on the all-order interspike-interval (ISI) histogram the same? Is the perceptual distinction between rhythm and roughness for AM stimuli related to a temporal versus spatial representation of AM frequency in auditory cortex? Are interarea differences in temporal response properties related to differences in frequency tuning? The results showed that: 1) AM stimuli produce much higher best modulation frequencies (BMFs) and limiting rates than periodic click trains. 2) For periodic click trains and AM noise, the BMFs and limiting rates were not significantly different for the three areas. However, for AM tones the BMF and limiting rates were about a factor 2 lower in AAF compared with the other areas. 3) The representation of stimulus periodicity in ISIs resulted in significantly lower mean BMFs and limiting rates compared with those estimated from the tMTFs. The difference was relatively small for periodic click trains but quite large for both AM stimuli, especially in AI and AII. 4) Modulation frequencies <20 Hz were represented in the ISIs, suggesting that rhythm is coded in auditory cortex in temporal fashion. 5) In general only a modest interdependence of spectral- and temporal-response properties in AI and AII was found. The BMFs were correlated positively with characteristic frequency in AAF. The limiting rate was positively correlated with the frequency-tuning curve bandwidth in AI and AII but not in AAF. Only in AAF was a correlation between BMF and minimum latency was found. Thus whereas differences were found in the frequency-tuning curve bandwidth and minimum response latencies among the three areas, the coding of periodic stimuli in these areas was fairly similar with the exception of the very poor representation of AM tones in AII. This suggests a strong parallel processing organization in auditory cortex.     

Protein structural similarities predicted by a sequence-structure compatibility method

A method for protein structure prediction has been developed, which evaluates the compatibility of an amino acid sequence with known 3-dimensional structures and identifies the most likely structure. The method was applied to a large number of sequences in a database, and the structures of the following proteins were predicted: (1) shikimate kinase (SKase), (2) the hydrophilic subunit of mannose permease (IIABMan), (3) rat tyrosine aminotransferase (Tyr AT), and (4) threonine dehydratase (TDH). The functional and evolutionary implications of the predictions are discussed. (1) The structural similarity between SKase and adenylate kinase was predicted. Alignment of their sequences reveals that the ATP-binding type A sequence motif and 2 ATP-binding arginine residues are conserved. The prediction suggests a similarity in their functional mechanisms as well as an evolutionary relationship. (2) The structural similarity between IIABMan and galactose/glucose-binding protein (GGBP) was predicted. The IIA and IIB domains are aligned with the N- and C-terminal domains of GGBP, respectively. The 2 phosphorylated residues, His 10 and His 175, of IIABMan are threaded onto loops located in the substrate-binding cleft of GGBP. The prediction accounts for the phosphoryl transfer from His 10 to His 175, and to the sugar substrate. (3) The structural similarity between rat Tyr AT and Escherichia coli aspartate AT was predicted, as well as (4) the structural similarity between TDH and the tryptophan synthase beta subunit. Predictions (3) and (4) support the previous predictions based on observations of the functional similarities between the proteins.     

The worlds we live in: Gender similarities and differences.

Explores 2 traditions of gender difference research and theory. One tradition emphasizes similarities between the sexes, whereas the other emphasizes differences. Reasons for the tension between these 2 traditions are explored. The author argues that rather than choose 1 of these 2 views, it is better to use the tension created to explore the dialectic between similarity and difference. To illustrate the usefulness of this tension, the controversy around gender and moral reasoning is explored. After examining empirical and political concerns about linking an ethic of care to gender, the author explores the interaction of care and justice with gender similarities and differences in developing moral theory. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Category Norms as a Function of Culture and Age: Comparisons of Item Responses to 105 Categories by American and Chinese Adults.

Understanding how aging influences cognition across different cultures has been hindered by a lack of standardized, cross-referenced verbal stimuli. This study introduces a database of such item-level stimuli for both younger and older adults, in China and the United States, and makes 3 distinct contributions. First, the authors specify which item categories generalize across age and/or cultural groups, rigorously quantifying differences among them. Second, they introduce novel, powerful methods to measure between-group differences in freely generated ranked data, the rank-ordered logit model and Hellinger Affinity. Finally, a broad archive of tested, cross-linguistic stimuli is now freely available to researchers: data, similarity measures, and all stimulus materials for 105 categories and 4 culture-by-age groups, comprising over 10,000 fully translated unique item responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fast similarities: Efficiency advantages of similarity-focused comparisons.

People constantly have to make efficient use of their limited cognitive resources. Recently, T. Mussweiler and K. Epstude (2009) demonstrated that comparative thinking simplifies information processing and increases the efficiency of judgment. However, there are different types of comparative thinking. While comparing 2 entities, people may focus on either similarities or dissimilarities between target and standard. The authors propose that these 2 comparative thinking styles differ in their efficiency. Specifically, the authors hypothesize that comparisons with a focus on similarities lead to more focused information processing and faster judgments than comparisons with a dissimilarity focus. In line with these hypotheses, the authors demonstrate that participants are indeed faster at judging the similarity of 2 stimuli (Study 1) and that they search for less target information in a comparative judgment task (Study 2) if they focus on similarities rather than dissimilarities. Focusing on similarities thus appears to be the more efficient comparative thinking style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in irrelevant-speech effects.

Three experiments examined age-related differences in irrelevant-speech effects. Younger and older adults were required to recall short prose texts or lists of semantically related words presented visually together with distractor speech. In all experiments, older adults made more semantically related intrusion errors from the irrelevant speech than younger adults. Results of a source memory test suggested that these age-related differences in interference are most likely due to both inhibitory deficits and source-monitoring problems. The results lend partial support to the inhibition deficit theory of cognitive aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The search for dimensional structure differences between normality and abnormality: A statistical review of published data on personality and psychopathology.

A statistical review of published data for 37 personality and psychopathology inventories was conducted to determine whether there are dimensional structure differences between clinical and nonclinical respondents. Correlation and factor-loading matrices from multiscale inventories and from specialized measures were tested for structural invariance across populations. There was relatively consistent evidence for high levels of similarity between normal and abnormal populations both in the number of factors that exist in the data matrices and in the factor patterns. The dimensional universes of normality and abnormality are apparently the same, at least according to data derived from contemporary assessment instruments. Categorical-taxonic differences between clinical and nonclinical populations, which were not examined, may nevertheless exist within contexts of dimensional structure similarity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural contingency theory and individual differences: Examination of external and internal person-team fit.

This article develops and tests a structurally based, integrated theory of person-team fit. The theory developed is an extension of structural contingency theory and considers issues of external fit simultaneously with its examination of internal fit at the team level. Results from 80 teams working on an interdependent team task indicate that divisional structures demand high levels of cognitive ability on the part of teammembers. However, the advantages of high cognitive ability in divisional structures are neutralized when there is poor external fit between the structure and the environment. Instead, emotional stability becomes a critical factor among teammembers when a divisional structure is out of alignment with its environment. Individual differences seem to play little or no role in functional structures, regardless of the degree of external fit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)