The primacy model: a new model of immediate serial recall

A new model of immediate serial recall is presented: the primacy model. The primacy model stores order information by means of the assumption that the strength of activation of successive list items decreases across list position to form a primacy gradient. Ordered recall is supported by a repeated cycle of operations involving a noisy choice of the most active item followed by suppression of the chosen item. Word-length and list-length effects are attributed to a decay process that occurs both during input, when effective rehearsal is prevented, and during output. The phonological similarity effect is attributed to a second stage of processing at which phonological confusions occur. The primacy model produces accurate simulations of the effects of word length, list length, and phonological similarity.     

Predicting homework effort: Support for a domain-specific, multilevel homework model.

According to the domain-specific, multilevel homework model proposed in the present study, students' homework effort is influenced by expectancy and value beliefs, homework characteristics, parental homework behavior, and conscientiousness. The authors used structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling analyses to test the model in 2 studies with 414 and 1,501 8th graders, respectively. In line with the authors' assumptions, most intercorrelations observed between corresponding homework variables across 2 school subjects were small to moderate, conscientiousness and homework motivation proved to be strong predictors of homework effort, and perceived homework quality varied considerably between classes and predicted homework motivation and behavior. Findings highlight the need to take into account the domain specificity and multilevel character of homework variables when analyzing students' homework behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and resource allocation: Support for a nonmonotonic, discontinuous model.

Self-regulation theories are paving the way to integrating motivational theories of behavior. However, a review of the motivation literature reveals several possible relationships between self-efficacy and motivation. Past findings were reduced to 4 empirical models, which were compared within a single study using undergraduates playing a computer task. The effects of 2 manipulations of self-efficacy on resource allocation decisions were assessed. Consistent with a multiple goal process conceptualization, self-efficacy was found to relate positively to directing resources toward a goal but negatively to the magnitude of resources allocated for accepted goals. Differences in methods are used to reconcile current and past findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual search for singleton feature targets across dimensions: Stimulus- and expectancy-driven effects in dimensional weighting.

Four pop-out search experiments investigated whether dimension-based visual attention is top-down modulable. Observers searched for singleton feature targets defined, variably across trials, by a color or an orientation difference to nontargets. Observers were precued to the most probable target-defining dimension (e.g., by the word color) or feature (red) on a given trial. Results revealed expedited reaction times (RTs) for valid-dimension targets relative to neutral-cue conditions, and slowed RTs for invalid-dimension targets. Cue information as to precise target feature yielded some extra effect only for color targets. The dimensional cuing significantly reduced, but did not abolish, the dimension-specific influence of the previous target on detection of the current target (same-dimension RT     

The primacy of affect.

Comments on the dispute between R. Zajonc (see record 1984-30610-001) and R. Lazarus (see record 1984-30606-001) over the primacy of affect, noting that one difference between them seems to involve the underlying model of causality. Zajonc may have assumed a linear model, Lazarus a nonlinear one. It is argued that this issue is connected to another—whether affect can be the actual cause of behavior. Based on previous research by others and the present author's behavioral observations of "Candid Camera" episodes, it is suggested that affective reactions may, under certain conditions, have a causal status equivalent to that of behavior and cognition. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An attentional model of dimensional contrast.

In this article, the authors introduce a model of dimensional stimulus control designed to explain dimensional contrast effects. The model suggests that dimensional contrast is the result of the nonuniform allocation of limited attentional resources during discrimination training. Attention in the model is conceived as a gradient that extends throughout a spatial representation of stimuli. The authors examine the results of 5 experiments to assess the quality of fit of the model and its theoretical implications. Variations in training procedures, such as changing presentation probability of stimuli, changing the distribution of training stimuli, and changing the relative difficulty of discrimination, can all be accounted for by differences in the allocation of attentional resources. The good fit of the model indicates that attentional limitations may play an important role in stimulus control phenomena such as dimensional contrast. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual organization of behavior: A hierarchical control model of coordinated action.

Compared the behavior of 4 college students and 2 faculty members (including the present author) with a hierarchical control system model of behavioral organization. Ss varied the position of 2 control handles simultaneously to keep the distance constant between 2 pairs of lines. Three variations on this basic experiment that illustrate some fundamental properties of coordinated action showed (1) how independent actions, compensating for unpredictable and undetectable disturbances, can produce a single behavioral result; (2) how the ability to produce a particular result is maintained when the connection between action and result is changed; and (3) how 2 independent outputs can appear to be related as coordinative structures when one output disturbs a result being controlled by the other. The correlation between the behavior of Ss and the model in all experiments was typically on the order of .99. A detailed examination of the operation of the model demonstrated that actions are structured by perception, not by central commands or equations of constraint. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the primacy of cognition.

Replies to an article by R. B. Zajonc (see record 1984-30610-001) in which Zajonc differed greatly from the present author in his conceptualization of emotion and its relations with cognition, as well as in his evaluation of the evidence. The boundaries of emotion as a phenomenon and whether sensory preferences can be regarded as emotions are discussed, and the evidence Zajonc regards as supporting his claims for the independence of cognition and emotion and the primacy of emotion are analyzed. Finally, the indeterminancy of the issue of cognitive vs emotional primacy is emphasized. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the primacy of affect.

Discusses R. S. Lazarus's (see PA, Vols 69:11728 and 25:2812) challenge of the view that there are circumstances under which affect precedes cognition and that affective arousal that does not entail prior cognitive appraisal exists. His argument, however, is based entirely on an arbitrary definition of emotion that requires cognitive appraisal as a necessary precondition. To satisfy this concept of emotion, Lazarus has broadened the definition of cognitive appraisal to include even the most primitive forms of sensory excitation, thus obliterating all distinction among cognition, sensation, and perception. No empirical evidence is offered to document the principle of cognitive appraisal as a necessary precondition for emotional arousal. It is concluded that the contrasting view of an affective primacy and independence is derived from a series of findings and phenomena, including the existence of neuroanatomical structures allowing for independent affective process. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Plate tectonics in the classification of personality disorder: Shifting to a dimensional model.

The diagnostic categories of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders were developed in the spirit of a traditional medical model that considers mental disorders to be qualitatively distinct conditions (see, e.g., American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Work is now beginning on the fifth edition of this influential diagnostic manual. It is perhaps time to consider a fundamental shift in how psychopathology is conceptualized and diagnosed. More specifically, it may be time to consider a shift to a dimensional classification of personality disorder that would help address the failures of the existing diagnostic categories as well as contribute to an integration of the psychiatric diagnostic manual with psychology's research on general personality structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The primacy of affective judgment from a teleological perspective.

States that in overlooking the studies on affective judgment of J. F. Rychlak (1977), R. B. Zajonc (see record 1980-09733-001) has omitted an entire theoretical approach that should be seriously considered in discussions of the primacy of affect. This omission is corrected with a brief review of Rychlak's teleological theory and its contrast with Zajonc's approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two types of test-anxious students: Support for an information processing model.

The purpose of this research was to further investigate the information processing model suggested by Benjamin, McKeachie, Lin, and Holinger (1981) in explaining the poor academic performance of highly test-anxious students. Whereas previous studies pointing to deficits in the organization stage of processing mainly relied on self-reports, the first study of this research used a technique that enabled us to measure objectively the organization of course material by students in a nonevaluative situation. Results indicated that highly test-anxious students showed a disadvantage in organization of course material, in comparison with other students. In the second study, we investigated whether types of highly test-anxious students can be differentiated by their information processing skills. The first type includes those with good study habits who do not have problems in encoding and organizing the information but, rather, have a major problem in retrieval for a test. The second type includes those with poor study habits who have problems in all stages of processing. Such a distinction was supported by results comparing performance of these types of highly test-anxious students in an evaluative and a nonevaluative situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Support for the discharge model of emotion: A reply to Zuckerman.

Responds to criticisms by M. Zuckerman (see record 1984-11616-001) of a study by the present author et al (see record 1983-05644-001) which reported evidence in support of the discharge model of the relation between facial expressivity and physiological reactivity. It is argued that Zuckerman's challenge to the Notarius et al study and conclusions is unfounded for 2 reasons: (a) Zuckerman's critique contains several interpretative errors of the Notarius et al study, and (b) subsequent data analysis, recommended by Zuckerman, overwhelmingly supports the original interpretation of the study. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)