Role of out-group cues in determining social identity.

Examined the role of out-group cues in determining social identity and guiding behavior in 2 experiments with 131 undergraduates. In Exp I, Ss were exposed to a cue either of an in-group (Ss' college), a relevant out-group (a rival college), or an irrelevant out-group (a baseball team). Ss examined a list of words and were later asked to recognize those they had seen from a larger list in which words related to the 3 groups were embedded. Results indicate that Ss made more false recognitions of in-group related words when a relevant out-group was salient than when an irrelevant out-group was salient. Exp II tested a behavioral implication of Exp I: Out-group salience increases adherence to an in-group norm. In the 1st phase of Exp II, Ss were divided into 2 groups and deliberated 2 civil suits. Ss' in-group favored the plaintiffs for both cases. Ss were divided into new groups for the 2nd phase, and the same procedure was followed. This time, however, the in-group favored the defendants. In the 3rd phase, Ss were exposed to a cue either of the out-group in Phase 1 or Phase 2. Ss' judgments for 2 new cases were biased in the direction of the norm of the in-group that was associated with the salient out-group. Ss favored the plaintiff (or defendant) when the 1st (or 2nd) out-group was salient. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal and peers' word associations in relation to children's false recognition errors.

Attempted to show that false recognition errors would be more frequently elicited by children's personal associates to a set of target words than by associates based on peer norms; Ss were 80 White middle-class 2nd and 5th graders (mean ages, 7.6 and 10.6 yrs, respectively). In Session 1 Ss gave oral associations to 34 words. In the 1st phase of Session 2, target words were each read aloud once and Ss were required to memorize them; in the 2nd phase Ss worked for 5 min on a maze task to prevent rehearsal; and in the final phase, a 40-item recognition list was read. Ss determined whether a word was one they had been asked to remember. As predicted, responses occurred with decreasing frequency to target, personal, peer, and control words. Consistent with the expectation that personal associates would more frequently elicit false recognition errors than would peer associates, the difference between personal and control responses was larger than the difference between peer and control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategical invariance in lexical access: The reappearance of the pseudohomophone effect.

Examined the relationship between the presence of homophones and the appearance of the pseudohomophone effect, using 26 undergraduates. Ss were exposed to 10 pseudohomonyms, 10 nonwords, and 20 homophonic words or 20 nonhomophonic words in the 1st trial and to 15 pseudohomophones, 15 nonwords, and 30 nonhomophonic words during the 2nd trial. Ss' reaction time (RT) to a lexical decision task was recorded. Ss exposed to homophonic words during the 1st trial showed greater RT for decisions on pseudohomophones (pseudohomophone effect). Results support the conclusion of I. Dennis et al (1985) that the presence of homophones encourages a strategy of lexical decision making that changes the use made of phonological evidence. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parallel memory retrieval in dual-task situations: II. Episodic memory.

Three experiments asked whether subjects could retrieve information from a 2nd stimulus while they retrieved information from a 1st stimulus. Ss performed recognition judgments on each of 2 words that followed each other by 0, 250, and 1,000 msec (Experiment 1) or 0 and 300 msec (Experiments 2 and 3). In each experiment, reaction time to both stimuli was faster when the 2 stimuli were both targets (on the study list) or both lures (not on the study list) than when 1 was a target and the other was a lure. Each experiment found priming from the 2nd stimulus to the lst when both stimuli were targets. Reaction time to the 1st stimulus was faster when the 2 targets came from the same memory structure at study (columns in Experiment l; pairs in Experiment 2; sentences in Experiment 3) than when they came from different structures. This priming is inconsistent with discrete serial retrieval and consistent with parallel retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediation and associative facilitation in neurotic, psychotic, and normal subjects.

The present investigation is a replication of previous work (see 30: 555; 27: 4925) utilizing Veterans Administration medical and psychiatric patients instead of college Ss. The previous findings indicated that associative relationship facilitates verbal learning. Ss learned 2 sets of syllable-word paired associates; ? of the pairs on the 2nd list had response terms which were associates of their responses to words on the 1st list. Although the responses of all Ss showed the effects of associative facilitation, this was more true for nonpsychotics. The results are discussed in terms of understanding the thinking of schizophrenics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review, recitation, and memory monitoring.

Investigated memory monitoring during the learning of word lists in 110 undergraduates in 2 experiments. Both experiments used a procedure in which the list was presented twice prior to each recall with Ss predicting recall during either the 1st or 2nd presentation. Ss who predicted during the 2nd presentation had the opportunity to review the entire list prior to making their predictions. Results of both experiments suggest that successful monitoring to decide the items that are already encoded (e.g., assessment through covert recall) did not occur during presentation of material but was restricted to recall trials. Reviewing the list had no effect on prediction accuracy when the material was homogeneous (Exp I) but was effective with heterogeneous materials (Exp II). The data from Exp II also show modest learning-to-predict and learning-to-learn effects (i.e., improvement over lists) for Ss predicting recall on the 2nd presentation. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental and individual differences in the use of the control-of-variables strategy.

48 6th and 8th graders were given 2 successive presentations of a standard Piagetian control-of-variables (COV) task. Between the 2 presentations, Ss in 4 conditions took part in an activity designed to elicit the COV strategy or to serve as a control. In a 2nd session, Ss were administered a different task requiring use of the COV strategy, a task requiring use of a different formal operations scheme (proportionality), and a measure of field independence. For older Ss, strategy use increased equally from the 1st to the 2nd presentation in all 4 conditions; for the younger Ss, strategy use increased only for 2 conditions containing a set of intervening probe questions. At both ages, "spontaneous" (i.e., 1st presentation) COV strategy users outperformed their "latent" (2nd presentation only) peers on all 3 Session 2 tasks. Latent strategy users outperformed strategy-absent Ss on the COV transfer task and on the proportionality task. Data clarify the distinction between spontaneous and latent levels of availability of a formal operations strategy. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional strategies, attention, and metacognition in Puerto Rican children.

60 2nd-, 5th-, and 8th-grade Puerto Ricans participated in a strategy assessment task and an incidental learning task that provided a measure of attentional performance. Metacognition concerning attention was assessed by asking Ss to predict how much incidental material they would recall. ANOVAs revealed no developmental changes in the use of an efficient attentional strategy, the amount of central recall, the amount of incidental recall, or in metacognitive knowledge. Results differ from a previous study by the 1st author and M. G. Weiss with 60 predominantly White, middle-class Florida children in which attention and strategies became increasingly efficient as a function of age. In comparison to the Florida sample, Puerto Rican 2nd graders' strategies were more efficient and the 8th graders' strategies were less efficient. Attention on the incidental learning task was less selective for the Puerto Rican Ss than the Florida Ss. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrieving for rehearsal: An analysis of active rehearsal in children's memory.

Two experiments with 96 2nd graders and 24 6th graders explored the operation of retrieval processes in Ss' active rehearsal strategies. Both experiments used free-recall tasks, in which Ss were given instructions in active rehearsal as well as supports that might facilitate the retrieval operation and thus enhance both rehearsal and recall performance. In Exp I, 2nd and 6th graders were given visual or auditory access to an 18-item stimulus-word list. Results show that, by providing 2nd graders with an opportunity to view previously presented words, rehearsal activity and recall increased substantially, whereas the performance of the 6th graders was not affected. In Exp II, presentation time and visual access to a similar 18-word list were manipulated for 2nd graders. Results show that the provision of extra time for an item enabled Ss to execute a more active rehearsal strategy. Extra time had only minimal effects on recall, except when it was combined with visual access to the items. Findings suggest that retrieval per se is not necessary for the beneficial effects of active rehearsal, if other procedures can be followed to permit the juxtaposition of several items in rehearsal. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge Partitioning in Categorization: Constraints on Exemplar Models.

The authors present 2 experiments that establish the presence of knowledge partitioning in perceptual categorization. Many participants learned to rely on a context cue, which did not predict category membership but identified partial boundaries, to gate independent partial categorization strategies. When participants partitioned their knowledge, a strategy used in 1 context was unaffected by knowledge demonstrably present in other contexts. An exemplar model, attentional learning covering map, was shown to be unable to accommodate knowledge partitioning. Instead, a mixture-of-experts model, attention to rules and instances in a unified model (ATRIUM), could handle the results. The success of ATRIUM resulted from its assumption that people memorize not only exemplars but also the way in which they are to be classified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual construct accessibility and subjective impressions and recall.

In the 1st session of each of 2 studies, 48 undergraduates' accessible traits were elicited by asking them to list the characteristics of different people, with accessibility defined as frequency of output (Study 1) or primacy of output (Study 2). In the 2nd session, held 1 or 2 wks later, Ss read an essay describing the behaviors of a target person. The essay contained both accessible and inaccessible trait-related information for each S, with different traits being accessible or inaccessible for different Ss. Both studies found that Ss deleted significantly more inaccessible than accessible trait-related information in their impressions and reproductions of the target information. This effect on impressions and reproductions was evident 2 wks after exposure to the target information. Implications of this approach for personality differences, interpersonal conflict and attraction, similarity of self and other judgments, and therapeutic intervention are discussed. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical familiarity and processing efficiency: Individual differences in naming, lexical decision, and semantic categorization.

College students were separated into 2 groups (high and low) on the basis of 3 measures: subjective familiarity ratings of words, self-reported language experiences, and a test of vocabulary knowledge. Three experiments were conducted to determine if the groups also differed in visual word naming, lexical decision, and semantic categorization. High Ss were consistently faster than low Ss in naming visually presented words. They were also faster and more accurate in making difficult lexical decisions and in rejecting homophone foils in semantic categorization. Taken together, the results demonstrate that Ss who differ in lexical familiarity also differ in processing efficiency. The relationship between processing efficiency and working memory accounts of individual differences in language processing is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attention, as indexed by subsequent memory, on electrodermal detection of information.

Three closely related experiments tested the effects of attention, as indexed by subsequent memory, on electrodermal detection of information. A total of 62 male college students attempted to conceal 6 critical items of information from a polygraph examiner recording their electrodermal response (EDR). In the polygraph test the S was asked if any of a list of 24 words, 1 every 10–25 sec, were critical items he was concealing. The list was comprised of 3 semantically similar control words along with each critical word. Afterward, without forewarning, a 2nd experimenter asked the S to remember all the words he had been asked about on the test. Deceptive Ss who gave a larger EDR to critical than to control words more often than could be expected by chance (i.e., were correctly detected as deceptive) remembered more control words than did other deceptive Ss who escaped detection. Results are interpreted to mean that the less thoroughly an S processes the test words, as indexed by later memory, the less likely he is to be detected. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in predicting memory performance: The effects of normative information and task experience.

Two experiments addressed the effects of task information and experience on younger and older adults' ability to predict their memory for words. The 1st study, which involved 36 women (aged 20–30 yrs) and 36 women (aged 65–75 yrs), examined the effects of normative task information on Ss' predictions for 30-word lists across 3 trials. The 2nd study, which involved 2 groups of men and women (128 Ss total; aged 19–30 yrs and 54–77 yrs), examined the effects of making predictions and recalling either an easy or a difficult word list prior to making predictions and recalling a moderately difficult word list. Results from both studies showed that task information and experience affected Ss' predictions and that elderly adults predicted their performance more accurately than did younger adults. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and the next-in-line effect.

Studied the relationship between anxiety and the next-in-line effect in recall. Within each of 2 groups of 24 male and female university students, half the group took turns in reading a single word until an entire list of words had been read, and the other half merely listened. On a 2nd list of words the role of Ss was reversed. Compared to the listen control condition, the recall of Ss in the read condition was poorest for words read a short time before their own performance. This next-in-line effect was no greater for Ss classified on the basis of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale as being highly anxious than for low-anxiety Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in judging the frequency of events.

80 Ss in 2 age groups, 18–30 and 60–75 yrs, saw a list of words that varied in number of presentations (1, 3, or 5) and level of background language frequency (high, medium, or low). Immediately or after a 20-min retention interval, Ss judged the presentation frequency of the study list words. Older Ss were less accurate in their frequency judgments than young Ss. The age difference was present on the immediate test and was not due to greater difficulty in discriminating presentation frequency from background frequency in the older group. The results are not consistent with the hypothesis that frequency judgment is unaffected by developmental changes. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The spatial-arrangement mnemonic.

The spatial-arrangement or word-arrangement mnemonic suggests that lists of words can be better remembered if they are arranged into distinctive spatial patterns. In the present study, 97 undergraduates studied 6 lists of 12 words each. In one condition each list was spatially arranged in the same pattern, and in the other condition each list was formed into a distinctive pattern. A 2nd factor was also tested. Ss were instructed either in the use of the link mnemonic or were given no special learning instructions. Three learning trials were followed by a 1-wk retention interval. It was found that both the link mnemonic and the distinctive word arrangements enhanced recall during acquisition, but only word arrangement had a significant effect on retention. Ss presented with distinctive word arrangements could recall 63% of the words originally learned, compared to 51% for Ss presented homogeneous patterns of words. It is suggested that the word-arrangement mnemonic may be valuable both as a study procedure and as a factor in the design of educational materials. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Item stability as related to implicit set and subject-item distance.

Studied the responses of 156 high school students to a list of interest items, 1st under standard conditions and then after a 3-wk period, under an implicit set designed to influence responses in a specific direction. 4 instruments were employed: the interest scale (using selected items from the strong vocational interest blank, kuder preference record, and french's interest index), the post-experimental inquiry, the scientific knowledge survey, and the artistic knowledge survey, and the artistic knowledge survey. An attempt was made to determine whether responses to items affected by an implicit set could not only be identified by their relevant content but also be shown to lie close to ss' scale points. Some positive results were obtained. Ss tended to change more responses to items that were (a) relevant in content, (b) close to their scale point, and (c) answered in the unkeyed direction on the 1st trial. Differential effects are noted and analyzed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)