Pictorial mnemonics for phonics.

Evaluated whether picture mnemonics help prereaders learn letter–sound associations in 2 experiments with 20 1st graders (Exp I), 30 preschoolers, and kindergartners (Exp II). Pictures integrating the associations were compared with disassociated pictures and with a no-picture control condition. Ss in the integrated-picture group learned 5 letter-sound associations (e.g., f, /f/), each represented by a picture whose shape included the letter (e.g., letter f drawn as the stem of a flower) and whose name (flower) began with the letter's sound. Ss in the disassociated-picture group learned letter–sound associations with pictures having the same names as the integrated pictures, but drawn differently—without letter shapes. Ss in the control group learned associations with picture names but no pictures. Prior to letter–sound training, all groups were taught how to segment the initial sounds of the picture names. Results reveal that Ss taught with integrated mnemonics learned more letter–sound associations and also more letter–picture associations than did the other 2 groups, which did not differ. Integrated pictures were effective because they linked 2 otherwise unconnected items in memory. It is concluded that the shape of letters included in pictures reminded learners of previously seen pictures with those shapes whose names began with the relevant letter sounds. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental and sociocultural aspects of imagery in the picture-word paired-associate learning of children.

Taught 128 middle-class Anglo-Americans and 128 lower socioeconomic Spanish-American children paired-associate lists in which pictures and orally presented words were learned as combinations of picture-picture, picture-word, word-picture, and word-word. Half of the Ss were placed in a recall test during learning trials and half in a recognition condition. One wk after original learning, the Ss were retested. Pictures in the stimulus position greatly facilitated learning, whereas pictures in the response term produced negative effects, but only in the recall condition. Pictures produced better long-term retention in both stimulus and response positions than did words. No significant differences between sociocultural groups in overall paired-associate performance appeared, but long-term retention was significantly better for Anglo Ss. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants' visual following: Effects of size and sound.

In Study 1, 22 infants were observed at 1 and 2 mo of age as they visually followed 4 possible combinations of a big or small doll's head accompanied by loud or soft speech. The targets moved on a horizontal track at the Ss' eye level. Ss followed the larger and louder targets, but there was no interaction between size and loudness. Study 2, with 47 Ss, indicated that the effect of size on following was apparently general at 1 mo; at 2 mo, it was specific to heads and did not extend to other 3-dimensional objects such as geometric or animal shapes. Studies 3 and 4, with 40 9-wk-old Ss, explored the nature of the effect of sound. Results indicate that 2-mo-olds followed a variety of objects more when they were accompanied by a variety of sounds than when they were silent; their following, however, was the same whether the sound source moved conjointly with the target or was in a clearly displaced stationary location. At this age, therefore, sound apparently exerts its influence through alterations in arousal rather than through facilitation of localization. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental changes in concept utilization among normal and retarded children.

Examined the concepts employed by 100 normal children in kindergarten-Grade 4 (Study 1), and by 48 retarded vs 48 normal children matched for mental ages ranging from 5 to 11 yrs (Study 2). Ss were required to select pairs of pictures from a large array of pictures depicting common objects and to explain the basis for their pairing responses. Factor analysis of the conceptual responses of normal Ss revealed factors for abstraction (nominal and functional concepts as opposed to perceptible concepts) and complimentarity ("go together" responses as opposed to similarity responses). Retarded Ss differed from normals primarily in their use of more complimentary and fewer similarity concepts. The developmental course of concept utilization for normals was characterized as a change from perceptible to nominal and functional concepts, while that for retarded Ss was characterized as a change from complimentary to similarity concepts. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory–visual responsiveness in full-term and preterm infants.

Compared older preterm and full-term infants in their response to objects in a dynamic multimodal context. In Study I, 67 12-wk-old full-term infants and 29 preterm infants (mean age 90 days) served as Ss. After familiarization with a silent moving object, full-term Ss recognized the object when it was stationary. When sound accompanied the moving object during familiarization, full-term Ss showed increased attention to the object but no subsequent recognition of that object. Neither high- nor low-risk preterms, at a comparable conceptional age, recognized the objects under any condition, but the low-risk preterms did show greater attention to the moving objects with sound. In Study II, 43 preterm Ss were tested approximately 6 mo after their estimated term date. The performance of the low-risk preterms was the same as that of full-terms; that is, through differential responding, they demonstrated association of an object and sound. In contrast, the high-risk preterms showed no differential looking. Thus both low- and high-risk preterms showed less differential responding than did normal full-terms at 3 mo, but at 6 mo only the high-risk preterms were different from the full-terms. Results suggest that the high-risk preterms are at a disadvantage for learning about the dynamic and multimodal aspects of their environment. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of visual alcohol cues on alcoholics' autonomic arousal.

Determined whether visual alcohol cues alone (slides showing drinking environments and alcohol beverage bottles) were sufficient to elicit autonomic arousal. 82 male alcoholics (aged 25–64 yrs) were shown alcohol-related or control slides while electrodermal responses were being recorded. Each slide was presented for 4 sec and interstimulus intervals varied between 20 and 30 sec. The frequency of skin conductance responses (SCRs) and the amplitude of the first SCR to each picture presentation were greater to alcohol slides than to control slides. The Ss showed slower habituation to alcohol-related slides as compared with control slides. Pictures of hard liquor yielded higher SCR amplitudes than did pictures of beer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear and autonomic arousal.

32 female undergraduates were classified as having high fear (HF) or low fear (LF) of spiders. After reduction of orienting responses to pictures of neutral animals, experimental Ss were shown pictures of a spider, and control Ss were shown pictures of a snake. Using the response to the last neutral stimulus as a base line, HF experimental Ss when 1st shown a spider yielded greater GSRs than other groups. This increase in GSR responding for HF experimental Ss was, for 2 more trials, maintained relative to control Ss. HF experimental Ss also yielded GSRs of greater duration than all other groups when 1st shown the spider stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coproduction of Regan isoenzyme and carcinoembryonic antigen in HCT-8 cells

Five groups of adult Ss were submitted to free-recall learning of 24 objects presented as written nouns for the control group and as pictures for experimental groups, as follows: schematic black and white, schematic colored, detailed black and white, and detailed colored drawings. Pictures were better recalled than nouns. Recall was significantly inferior for schematic black and white than for detailed colored drawings, with schematic colored and detailed black and white drawings at an intermediate level. These results support the so-called incidental-cues hypothesis according to which the best recall of pictures in comparison with that of nouns is partially the result of pictures having more distinctive cues likely to be encoded than do verbal items.     

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)     

Multiple audience problem: A strategic communication perspective on social perception.

Examined how communicators send mixed messages containing an explicit surface content and a covert hidden content. In Study 1, Ss wrote constrained essays presenting either an introverted or extraverted personality. Although authors reported manipulating essay credibility and readers reported relying on credibility to make their judgments, readers succumbed to correspondence bias. In Studies 2 and 3, Ss again prepared either constrained essays (Study 2) or constrained videotapes (Study 3) and included in them a hidden message that would be understood by only their friends but not by strangers. Observers then read these essays or watched these videotapes. Friends detected and decoded the hidden messages, whereas strangers did not. We discuss these findings in terms of social perception and strategic communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

View specificity, array specificity, and egocentrism in young children's drawings.

Examined the concept of egocentrism in an experiment in which 80 children (aged 6 yrs 1 mo to 7 yrs 2 mo) were asked to draw 2 pictures of an array of 2 objects, one characterizing their own view and the other characterizing the view of another child seated in a different position. Ss were able to represent their partner's view when the latter presented few problems in graphic complexity or mental rotation. Ss who were asked to draw their own view after drawing their partner's produced more view specific drawings than Ss asked to draw their own view first. It is concluded that the production of array-specific representations of spatial relations in young children's drawings should not be seen as a manifestation of egocentrism. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of early auditory stimulation on the choice of acoustical environment by adult Swiss albino mice (Mus musculus).

In 2 experiments, 265 Swiss albino Rb-3 9-wk-old untreated mice, when placed in a novel environment composed of a central cage surrounded by 4 dark boxes in which different sounds were emitted, explored the boxes for 1 or 2 hrs. In most cases, Ss settled into 1 of the 4 boxes and built their nest. Most of the controls chose the silent compartment, whatever the sound delivered in the other boxes. An acoustic choice test was then carried out. Four groups of mice were exposed to a particular sound for 10 days: Group 1: Gestation Day 10 to birth; Group 2: birth to Day 10; Group 3: Day 10 to Day 20; Group 4: Day 20 to Day 30. Ss were then tested for box preference on Day 63 in the 4-box choice, one of which contained the sound of the earlier exposure. Ss stimulated before the 10th day after birth behaved in the same way as controls, whereas Ss stimulated between the 10th and the 20th days after birth exhibited a strong preference for the box delivering the sound of the previous treatment. This choice was significant, whatever the harmonic (Exp I) or impulsive (Exp II) nature of the sound. Ss stimulated between the 20th and the 30th days showed a preference for the silent box, but among the others, 75% chose the sound received during infancy. The behavior of Ss stimulated when adult was the same as that of the controls. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awareness of social comparison interest and motivations: A developmental study.

Two studies conceptualized interest in social comparison as motivated by situational factors. 200 Ss from 1st, 4th, and 12th grades and college evaluated the social comparison interest of a same-sex, same-age story character working on a task near a coacting peer. Factors relevant to a classroom environment (presence or absence of an objective criterion of ability evaluation and level of competition) were varied in a within-Ss (Study 1) and a between-Ss (Study 2) design. In Study 1, Ss differentially rated the level of social comparison interest among several of the conditions, while in Study 2, the expected effects of the situational variables did not emerge. Additional findings indicate developmental changes in judged motivations toward social comparison behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infant social perception: Responses to pictures of parents and strangers.

Presented pictures of parents and strangers to 70 9–24 mo old infants. Results indicate that (a) Ss smiled more often and looked longer at pictures of parents than at those of strangers; (b) the smiling effect was related to age, with older Ss being more likely to smile at familiar than at unfamiliar faces; (c) younger Ss were more likely to smile at the strange woman than at the strange man; and (d) Ss did not differentially respond to pictures of their mother and father. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familiarity and attraction to pictures of children's faces.

Studied the relationship between familiarity and liking of a peer in 32 children in Grades 1–6. Pictures of boys' and girls' faces were shown at different frequencies; Ss then ranked the faces according to liking. Marked individual differences were found. For Ss with high sex-typed preferences, increased familiarity led to increased liking of same-sex faces and decreased liking of other-sex faces. For Ss with less sex-typed preferences, familiarity did not affect liking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deliberative and implemental mind-sets: Cognitive tuning toward congruous thoughts and information.

Study 1 established either deliberative mind-set by having Ss contemplate personal change decision or implemental mind-set by having Ss plan execution of intended personal project. Ss were subsequently requested to continue beginnings of 3 fairy tales, each describing a main character with a decisional conflict. Analysis revealed that deliberative mind-set Ss ascribed more deliberative and less implementational efforts to main characters than implemental mind-set Ss. In Study 2, Ss were asked to choose between different test materials. Either before or after making their decision, Ss were given information on deliberative and implementational thoughts unrelated to their task at hand. When asked to recall these thoughts, predecisional Ss recalled more deliberative and less implementational thoughts, whereas for postdecisional Ss the reverse was true. These findings suggest that deliberative and implemental mind-sets tune thought production and information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inflation bias in self-assessment examinations: Implications for valid employee selection.

In Study 1, self-assessment examinations were administered to 351 job applicants for 13 occupational classes. The self-assessments were composed of lists of tasks that were either job-related as determined by job analysis or bogus but superficially resembling the job-related tasks. Ss were asked to rate the extent of their training and experience on each task. Analysis showed the inflation bias was prevalent and pervasive. In Study 2, a subset of 66 Ss from Study 1 who applied for 5 clerical classifications were also asked to indicate the number of net words they could type and were later required to complete a speeded typing performance from straight copy. Analysis showed that inflation bias was negatively associated with this external performance measure. Two solutions for correcting for inflation were demonstrated to be sound procedures for reducing inflation bias and for having the potential to enhance test validity. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol and social behavior: II. The helpful drunkard.

Hypothesized that alcohol would increase helping when, if the person were sober, the helping response was under high-inhibitory conflict (affected by strong instigating and inhibiting pressures). In Study 1, 143 university students (over 21 yrs of age) were given alcohol or no alcohol and submitted to high- or low-conflict situations. Results show a mild dose of alcohol (1.25 ml/kg) increased helping among high-conflict Ss pressured to help with a task they did not like but did not increase helping among low-conflict Ss who either liked the task or were weakly pressured to help. In Study 2, 81 male university students (aged 21 yrs or older) were subjected to the same conditions as in Study 1, but a higher dose of alcohol (1.88 ml/kg) was used. Results show that the stronger dose of alcohol increased helping among all high-conflict Ss but again had no effect among low-conflict Ss. It is suggested that the role of inhibitory-response conflict in mediating alcohol's social effects generalizes to prosocial behavior. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory pattern discrimination in albino rats as a function of auditory restriction at different ages.

Studied the effect of deprivation of patterned sound at different ages in 32 albino rats by comparing the performance of Ss reared in a masking white noise condition with others reared in varied sound on a test of auditory pattern discrimination. Ss deprived of patterned sound from birth to 60 days of age were found to be significantly slower at learning the auditory pattern discrimination than Ss reared in varied sound. No differences were found between varied-sound-reared Ss and those deprived of patterned sound between 60 and 120 days, 30-60 days, or from birth to 30 days of age. Results do not support the possibility of a sensitive period for auditory pattern discrimination development but do suggest that prior experience of varied sound is necessary for successful auditory pattern discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)