Categorization of Above and Below Spatial Relations by Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella).

Using a matching-to-sample procedure, the researchers investigated tufted capuchins' (Cebus apella) ability to form categorical representations of above and below spatial relations. In Experiment 1, 5 capuchins correctly matched bar-dot stimuli on the basis of the relative above and below location of their constituent elements. The monkeys showed a positive transfer of performance both when the bar-dot distance in the two comparison stimuli differed from that of the sample and when the actual location of the matching stimulus and the nonmatching stimulus on the apparatus was modified. In Experiment 2, the researchers systematically changed the shapes of the located object (the dot) or the reference object (the horizontal bar). These manipulations did not affect the monkeys' performance. Overall, the data suggest that capuchins can form abstract, conceptual-like representations for above and below spatial relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for two types of spatial representations: Hemispheric specialization for categorical and coordinate relations.

Analyses of human object recognition abilities led to the hypothesis that 2 kinds of spatial relation representations are used in human vision. Evidence for the distinction between abstract categorical spatial relation representations and specific coordinate spatial relation representations was provided in 4 experiments. These results indicate that Ss make categorical judgments—on/off, left/right, and above/below—faster when stimuli are initially presented to the left cerebral hemisphere, whereas they make evaluations of distance—in relation to 2 mm, 3 mm, or 1 in. (2.54 cm)—faster when stimuli are initially presented to the right cerebral hemisphere. In addition, there was evidence that categorical representations developed with practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"How good is the evidence for a production deficiency among learning disabled students?": Correction to Shepherd et al.

Reports an error in "How good is the evidence for a production deficiency among learning disabled students" by Margaret J. Shepherd, Lynn M. Gelzheiser and Roberta A. Solar (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1985[Oct], Vol 77[5], 553-561). Figures 1 and 2 (p. 557 and 559, respectively) are reversed. The captions are correct, but Figure 1 should be above the caption for Figure 2 and Figure 2 should be above the caption for Figure 1. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1986-14779-001.) Investigated the spontaneous use of mnemonic strategies by learning disabled (LD) and non-LD children and adolescents to examine whether LD Ss can be distinguished from their non-LD peers on the basis of strategy use and recall. In Exp I, 105 LD and 105 non-LD 9-15 yr olds were administered a picture study/recall task, in which the strategies of interest were categorical organization during study and clustering during recall. In Exp II, 140 LD and 140 non-LD 11-17 yr olds were administered a paired-associate recall task, in which the strategy of interest was elaboration. In both studies, LD Ss earned lower mean recall scores than did the non-LD Ss. As a group, LD Ss did not differ from non-LD Ss in the use of categorical organization during study but showed less categorical clustering at recall. Fewer LD Ss used elaboration. Despite these differences, recall and strategy use were not useful predictors of classification as LD or non-LD and were only weak to moderate correlates of academic achievement. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of an abstract category representation for the spatial relation between in 6- to 10-month-old infants.

Nine experiments examined the formation of an abstract category representation for the spatial relation between by 6- to 10-month-old infants. The experiments determined that 9- to 10-month-olds, but not 6 to 7-month-olds, could form an abstract category representation for between when performing in an object-variation version of the between categorization task. The results also demonstrated that 6- to 7-month-olds could form category representations for between in the object-variation version of the between categorization task but that such representations were specific to the particular objects presented. The evidence confirms that representations for different spatial relations emerge at different points during development, and suggests that each representation undergoes its own period of development from concrete to abstract. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning to form a spatial category of tight-fit relations: How experience with a label can give a boost.

Two experiments explored the ability of 18-month-old infants to form an abstract categorical representation of tight-fit spatial relations in a visual habituation task. In Experiment 1, infants formed an abstract spatial category when hearing a familiar word (tight) during habituation but not when viewing the events in silence or when hearing a novel word. In Experiment 2, infants were given experience viewing and producing tight-fit relations while an experimenter labeled them with a novel word. Following this experience, infants formed the tight-fit spatial category in the visual habituation task, particularly when hearing the novel word again during habituation. Results suggest that even brief experience with a label and tight-fit relations can aid infants in forming an abstract categorical representation of tight-fit relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial attention and the apprehension of spatial relations.

Seven experiments examined the role of spatial attention in apprehending spatial relations above, below, left, and right. In Exp 1, visual search was difficult when targets differed from distractors only in the spatial relation between their elements. Reaction time (RT) increased linearly with display size with a slope greater than 60 msec/item. In Exp 2, search was easy (the slope was flat) when targets differed from distractors in the identity of their elements. In Exps 3 and 4, target position was cued with a discrepant color, and performance was better when attention was pulled toward spatial-relation targets than away from them. Exps 5–7 generalized the results over different displays and extended practice. The results suggest that apprehending spatial relations requires spatial attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of assigned versus participatively set goals, knowledge of results, and individual differences on employee behavior when goal difficulty is held constant.

In Exp I, 60 female clerical workers were randomly assigned to participative, assigned, and "do best" goal conditions on a clerical test. Specific goals led to higher performance than did the "do best" goals. With goal difficulty held constant, there was no significant difference between the assigned and participative conditions on performance or goal acceptance. Goal attainment, however, was higher in the assigned condition than it was in the participative condition. No main or interaction effects were found for knowledge of results (KR) or for individual difference measures with performance or goal acceptance. However, high self-esteem Ss who received KR attained their goals more often than did Ss with low self-esteem when the goals were participatively set. Exp II was conducted with 28 employees from the same sample in a performance-appraisal setting over an 8-mo period. Assigned goals resulted in higher performance and greater goal acceptance than participatively set goals. There was a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and performance in the participative condition only. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Matching to compound samples by monkeys (Cebus apella): Shared attention or generalization decrement?

In Exps I and II, 6 adult cebus monkeys matched element-comparison stimuli to either element or color–form compound samples, with retention intervals of .5–32 sec. Performance on compound sample trials was substantially below performance on element sample trials at the .5-sec delay, and the retention gradients were essentially parallel. Results support the generalization-decrement rather than the shared-attention interpretation of how animals process compound samples. Exp III with 6 Ss employed form–form rather than color–form compounds and obtained the same results with simultaneous matching and delays ranging to 128 sec. Exp IV verified the findings of Exp III for both form–form and color–form compounds and showed that as predicted by the generalization-decrement view, when the compound sample served as the correct comparison stimulus, performance was closely comparable to that achieved on element trials. Results suggest that monkeys do not readily abstract the elements of a compound sample. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Song sequence discrimination in the black-capped chickadee (Parus atricapillus).

14 captive black-capped chickadees were presented with normal and altered versions of their species-specific "fee bee" song to determine how note type, number, and sequence affect recognition. Perch changes and vocalizations given in response to playback did not differ reliably as a function of song type, whereas latency to 1st vocalization after playback did. In Exp I, using 2-note songs, Ss vocalized sooner to songs beginning with fee than with bee and to fee bee than to fee fee. In Exp II, Ss were presented with single-note, normal, and 3-note songs each consisting of a single-note type. Habituation slowed responding to altered songs but not to fee bee over 3 test sessions. Results suggest that Ss distinguished (a) single fees and 3-note songs from normal song, (b) single fees from single bees, (c) 2-note songs from 3-note songs, and (d) normal song from altered songs. It is concluded that the internal representation of conspecific song in the chickadee distinguishes between fee and bee notes, contains information about note order, and is sensitive to note number. The pattern of responses is consistent with a model of recognition based on note-by-note integration of individual decisions about song structure. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increased attention to the irrelevant dimension increases interference in a spatial Stroop task.

In a spatial Stroop task, it is argued that interference (ITF) results because selective attention is only partially successful. If so, increasing attention to the word should increase ITF. Three experiments, with 88 undergraduates, used the position words above, below, left, and right in incompatible positions to the left, right, or below a fixation point. Exp 1 showed increased ITF with position naming when Ss must be prepared to attend to either the word or its position. Exp 2 required Ss to first name the position of the word and then recall which word had been presented. This resulted in increased ITF with position naming when the word was followed at a short stimulus onset asynchrony by a pattern mask. Exp 3 employed both word reading and position naming and showed that a large reverse Stroop effect occurred with both vocal and manual responses when Ss were prepared to attend to either dimension of the stimulus. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of children's understanding of the metalinguistic term word..

Designed 3 experiments to assess 24 preschool (mean age 64.63 mo), 24 1st-grade (mean age 76.25 mo), and 24 2nd grade (mean age 88.61 mo) children's understanding of the term word. A modified aural discrimination task was used in which Ss were required to discriminate word from nonword stimuli along only 1 dimension at a time. Exp I tested Ss' discrimination of words and sounds. Exp II examined word–phrase differentiation. Both of these experiments followed previous research in examining children's comprehension of the term word in relation to nouns. Exp III examined Ss' understanding of word with stimuli from a variety of form classes. Results indicate that Ss' word concepts have been underestimated in past research suggesting that young children lack an adequate word concept: although preschool Ss did not understand the term properly, by 1st grade word was understood. These experiments also show that Ss benefited from brief training in which they were taught to attach the metalinguistic label word to their developing concept of the word as a unit of spoken language. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cache recovery and spatial memory in Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana).

Clark's nutcrackers cache pine seeds and recover them months later. Four experiments with 5 nutcrackers tested their ability to relocate their caches when the cache sites were selected by the experimenters. During Exp I, Ss had 18 cache sites available during each of 3 caching sessions, followed 10 days later by 4 recovery sessions. Recovery performance was above chance, and there were frequent revisits to previously emptied cache sites. During Exp II, hunger level (manipulated by prefeeding) had no effect on recovery accuracy. During Exp III, Ss were released into the experimental room with no seeds present. Probing behavior was directed at the old cache sites of Exp I and especially of Exp II. During Exp IV, the number of holes available during caching sessions had no effect on the accuracy of 3 of the 4 Ss. Findings suggest that spatial memory is a primary mechanism by which nutcrackers locate their caches. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective landmarks in perception and memory for spatial location.

Four experiments involving 125 undergraduates investigated the use of cognitive strategies for encoding spatial location in visual figures. Ss reproduced the position of a dot in a square figure that had distance markers placed along 2 sides. Ss' responses were biased toward imaginary points of intersection formed by the distance markers when Ss responded from memory (Exp 1) or while viewing the figures (Exp 2). Findings demonstrate that empty regions of a figure can serve as subjective landmarks for spatial localization. In Exp 3, dot relocation was similarly distorted toward physical cross marks placed at the intersections of distance markers. The attraction of dots to intersection points depended on the viewer employing a strategy of mentally projecting from distance markers to form imaginary intersections. In Exp 4, attraction toward intersection points was observed only when Ss employed the projection strategy. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative pitch perception is constrained by absolute pitch in songbirds (Mimus, Molothrus, and Sturnus).

Assessed the ability of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), cowbirds (Molothrus ater), and a mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) to maintain a relative pitch discrimination when the absolute frequencies of a serial pattern of tones were changed. In Exp I, 7 Ss learned a relative pitch discrimination between 4-tone sequences that either ascended or descended in frequency within a 1-octave range. Results show that Ss lost the discrimination completely when the frequency range was shifted an octave above or below the initial training range. Recovery of the discrimination in the novel ranges was slow, and considerable relearning was necessary. Starling Ss, however, easily generalized the relative pitch discrimination to new frequencies within the original training range. In Exp II, 4 starlings were trained on the same relative ascending–descending discrimination in 2 noncontiguous frequency ranges. Ss lost the discrimination when transferred into a novel gap of frequencies between the original training ranges. Findings demonstrate that songbirds can learn a relational discrimination between serial pitch patterns but that their ability to generalize the discrimination is constrained markedly by the frequency range in which the sound sequences are learned initially. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How good is the evidence for a production deficiency among learning disabled students?

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 77(6) of Journal of Educational Psychology (see record 2008-10974-001). Figures 1 and 2 (p. 557 and 559, respectively) are reversed. The captions are correct, but Figure 1 should be above the caption for Figure 2 and Figure 2 should be above the caption for Figure 1.] Investigated the spontaneous use of mnemonic strategies by learning disabled (LD) and non-LD children and adolescents to examine whether LD Ss can be distinguished from their non-LD peers on the basis of strategy use and recall. In Exp I, 105 LD and 105 non-LD 9–15 yr olds were administered a picture study/recall task, in which the strategies of interest were categorical organization during study and clustering during recall. In Exp II, 140 LD and 140 non-LD 11–17 yr olds were administered a paired-associate recall task, in which the strategy of interest was elaboration. In both studies, LD Ss earned lower mean recall scores than did the non-LD Ss. As a group, LD Ss did not differ from non-LD Ss in the use of categorical organization during study but showed less categorical clustering at recall. Fewer LD Ss used elaboration. Despite these differences, recall and strategy use were not useful predictors of classification as LD or non-LD and were only weak to moderate correlates of academic achievement. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transfer of serial stimulus relations by European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris): Loudness.

Four experiments investigated the ability of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to perceive stimulus relations in serial sound patterns. Loudness was the relevant stimulus dimension. In Exp 1, Ss learned to discriminate between patterns of sine tones that increased and decreased monotonically in loudness. The discrimination transferred successfully to novel loudness levels outside the baseline training range. Starlings also maintained the discrimination when the loudness intervals between successive pattern elements were doubled in Exp 2 and when frequency was shifted in Exp 4. Successful discrimination was directly contingent on stimulus relations (i.e., increasing vs decreasing loudness levels) in Exp 3. When loudness relations were removed, the discrimination was lost. The research shows that the birds used stimulus relations as the basis for serial pattern discrimination. These results contrast with the results of earlier work on serial pitch-pattern discriminations in which birds attended preferentially to absolute as compared with relational features to guide performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can Language Do the Driving? The Effect of Linguistic Input on Infants' Categorization of Support Spatial Relations.

Two experiments explored the effect of linguistic input on 18-month-olds' ability to form an abstract categorical representation of support. Infants were habituated to 4 support events (i.e., one object placed on another) and were tested with a novel support and a novel containment event. Infants formed an abstract category of support (i.e., looked significantly longer at the novel than familiar relation) when hearing the word "on" during habituation but not when viewing the events in silence (Experiment 1) or when hearing general phrases or a novel word (Experiment 2). Results indicate that a familiar word can facilitate infants' formation of an abstract spatial category, leading them to form a category that they do not form in the absence of the word. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies of concept formation by stumptailed monkeys: Concepts humans, monkeys, and letter A..

Natural concepts were studied in 3 of 4 experiments with 4 stumptailed monkeys, using a series of photographic slides. The concept of humans was studied in Exp I, using scenes with or without one or more humans present, and the concept of monkeys was studied in Exp II, using scenes with one or more monkeys and scenes with other types of animals. In both experiments, Ss were trained on 1 set of slides using a conditional spatial discrimination task and tested for transfer to a new set. All Ss tested showed positive transfer, performing at a higher level with new slides initially than they had during original learning, though well below the level reached by the end of original learning. The initial transfer could not be explained by learning of individual slides, though such learning was clearly a strong factor in the overall performance. Performance was better when humans were a prominent part of the scene. In Exp III, the discrimination task was changed to go/no-go. There was some improvement in discrimination but not in transfer. In Exp IV, Ss were trained to discriminate the letter A from the numeral 2 in a variety of typefaces, and they transferred the discrimination at a high level to a set of these stimuli in new typefaces. Results are consistent with a concept interpretation. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing of contour closure by baboons (Papio papio).

This study investigated the Gestalt law of closure in baboons. Using a computer-controlled self-testing procedure, we trained baboons (Papio papio) to discriminate open versus closed shapes presented on a touch screen with a two-alternative forced choice procedure. Ten baboons (OPEN + group) were trained with the open shapes serving as the positive stimulus (S+), and nine others (CLOSE + group) were trained with the closed shape serving as S+. The OPEN + group obtained higher discrimination performance than the CLOSE + group (Exp 1), but its scores declined when new line segments were added to the stimuli (Exp 2) and after smoothing the end points of the open shapes (Exp 3). The CLOSE + group was less affected by the above manipulations of local stimulus dimension, but its performance was disrupted when the collinearity end points was reduced (Exp 3). Use of a visual search task revealed that the search for an open shape among closed distractors was less attention demanding in baboons than the search for a closed shape among open ones (Exp 4). It is concluded that (1) end lines rather than closeness per se are perceptual primitives for the open versus closed discrimination in baboons, and (2) the relative emphasis on local or configural cues when processing contour closure depends on experiential factors in baboons and is thus subject to interindividual variations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Context effects on semantic domains as seen in analogy solution.

Three experiments investigated the processing of categorical information in context. Exp 1 used multidimensional scaling techniques to identify some common and unique dimensions for a given set of occupational terms in 3 different contexts. The results of Exp 2 indicate that these context-specific representations (as opposed to the general one) were used in the solution of word analogies. The results of Exp 2 also suggest that Ss solve these word analogies by means of heuristics rather than algorithmic rules. The results of Exp 3 support this conclusion. These findings are discussed in terms of the processing of context-dependent conceptual representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)