The influence of improper sets of information on judgment: How irrelevant information can bias judged probability.

This article introduces 2 new sources of bias in probability judgment, discrimination failure and inhibition failure, which are conceptualized as arising from an interaction between error prone memory processes and a support theory like comparison process. Both sources of bias stem from the influence of irrelevant information on participants' probability judgments, but they postulate different mechanisms for how irrelevant information affects judgment. The authors used an adaptation of the proactive interference (PI) and release from PI paradigm to test the effect of irrelevant information on judgment. The results of 2 experiments support the discrimination failure account of the effect of PI on probability judgment. In addition, the authors show that 2 commonly used measures of judgment accuracy, absolute and relative accuracy, can be dissociated. The results have broad implications for theories of judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of an irrelevant stimulus on two discriminations.

In 3 experiments, the effect of adding an irrelevant stimulus to a discrimination was examined. In Exp 1, a group of pigeons received autoshaping with an A+Bo discrimination in which 1 stimulus signaled food, A+, and a simultaneous compound of A with another stimulus, B, signaled the absence of food, ABo. A 2nd group received similiar training, except that a 3rd stimulus, C, was present in both types of trials, AC+BCo. The A+Bo discrimination was acquired more readily than the AC+BCo discrimination. Exps 2 and 3 used a negative-patterning design, A+Bo+. In both experiments, this problem was mastered more readily than when an irrelevant stimulus was used to create an AC+BCoC+ discrimination. The results fail to confirm predictions derived from elemental theories of conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy of verifiable biographical information blank responses.

Potential verifiability is frequently cited as a deterrent to falsification of biographical information blanks, yet little empirical evidence exists on this question. The present study investigated the relationship between reported and verified responses to 17 biographical information blank items for 112 officers of a metropolitan police department and determined the frequency and magnitude of biographical information blank discrepancies. Overall reported responses were strikingly accurate, correlations ranging from 0.41 to 1.0, with a median correlation of 0.94. These relationships were not appreciably modified by age or length of employment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student directed learning from biographical information systems.

Compared the effect of a student-directed instructional approach to a system-directed approach by studying how 64 high school seniors learned about Freud through an information system. The effect of student conceptual level (CL) was also investigated by use of an extreme group design. The student-directed approach was superior for knowledge acquisition, but no differences due to instructional approach were found for comprehension and synthesis. High CL Ss were superior to low CL Ss at all levels, thus emphasizing the need to consider both the characteristics of the learner and the level of behavioral objective in evaluating instructional approaches. (French summary) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic memory search and the effects of information load and irrelevant information.

If automaticity is identified with both light capacity usage and little attentional selectivity, then an automatic process should be symptomatized by both small effects of concurrent information load and large susceptibility to interference by similar but irrelevant information. Several experiments are reported that test this prediction for memory search among sets of words. For well-learned memory sets, a small effect of information load co-occurs with a large effect of irrelevant information. By contrast, for arbitrary sets, a large effect of information load co-occurs with a small effect of irrelevant information. These results do confirm the correlation between effects of information load and irrelevant information as a hallmark for identifying automatic processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing auditory information: Interference from an irrelevant cue.

In a choice RT task, 64 undergraduates pressed either a right- or left-hand key in response to directional commands provided by 400- and 1000-cps tones. On monaural trials, RT was significantly faster when the meaning of the tonal command corresponded with the ear in which it was heard (corresponding trials) than when it did not (noncorresponding trials). A comparison of monaural with binaural RT indicated that this Tonal Command * Ear Stimulated interaction was due to interference on the noncorresponding monaural trials rather than facilitation on the corresponding trials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in solution of algebraic word problems containing irrelevant information.

In the 1st experiment, 219 boys and 217 girls in 10th grade classified algebraic word problems in terms of whether the problems contained missing, sufficient, or irrelevant information for solution. Among students with similar levels of general mathematical ability, girls were less likely than boys to identify missing or irrelevant information within problems. More girls than boys perceived irrelevant information within the text of a problem as being necessary for solution. In the 2nd experiment, 11th-grade girls (n?=?234), who were as able as boys (n?=?287) to solve algebraic word problems containing sufficient information, had lower solution rates than did boys on problems containing irrelevant information. On the latter problems, the girls more often incorporated the irrelevant information into their attempted solution than did the boys. The results point to differences between boys and girls in knowledge of problem structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory S-R compatibility: The effect of an irrelevant cue on information processing.

Two experiments demonstrated the existence of a strong population stereotype which affected the processing of verbal commands. In a choice RT task, Ss pressed the right- or left-hand key in response to the words "right" or "left" which were presented to the right or left ear. RT was significantly faster when the content of the command corresponded to the ear stimulated than when it did not, i.e., information processing was affected by a cue irrelevant to the task itself, the ear in which the command was heard. Removing S's uncertainty regarding the ear to be stimulated resulted in significantly faster RT, and reduced but did not eliminate the effect of the irrelevant directional cue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of irrelevant stimuli on the processing of information in complex displays.

Investigated the effects of irrelevant stimuli on Ss' ability to organize information by using response categories. 40 undergraduates were assigned to relevant or relevant-irrelevant conditions. Irrelevant stimuli were found to increase response time and errors for all levels of complexity, but more so for certain specific response categories where interference effects could be expected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biodata phenomenology: Recruiters' perceptions and use of biographical information in resume screening.

Recruiters' phenomenological perceptions of biodata in resumes were examined along with their use of biodata for making applicant screening decisions. The thesis was that biodata were interpreted as indicating abilities and other attributes. Three complementary studies were conducted with 344 recruiters from 28 companies. Study 1 survey results indicated recruiters judged biodata to reflect both ability (language, math, physical) and other (interpersonal, leadership, motivation) attributes. Both types of attributes were judged with high interrecruiter reliability, and attributes judged to be reflected depended partly on the job considered. Study 2 experimental results indicated recruiters rated resumes more attractive to the degree that biodata in the resumes reflected attributes required by the jobs. Study 3 protocol analysis results confirmed that recruiters considered these attributes with substantial frequency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using biographical information to predict success of men and women in the army.

Used personal data gathered by the Israeli Biographical Information Inventory to predict military success for 390 men and 524 women, aged 20-26. Each sex group was randomly divided into equal keying and replication samples. In the keying samples, correlations between biographical item responses and the criterion of military rank (when released from compulsory service) were examined. 13 items, scored on the basis of these correlations, were summed. These total scores were then correlated with the criterion. Significant positive correlations were found for both sex groups in both the keying and replication samples, although correlations for men were always significantly (p     

Effect of irrelevant information on the time to enter and retrieve relevant information in a Stroop-type task.

In 4 experiments, Ss pressed a key labeled same or different to indicate whether a probe (color word or color patch) corresponded to the relevant dimension (ink color or meaning) of a Stroop word (Red or Green printed in red or green ink). The probe preceded the Stroop word on some trials and followed it on others. Thus, some trials required matching the probe to the Stroop stimulus per se while others involved matching the probe to a stored representation of the Stroop stimulus. Results indicated that the irrelevant attribute of the Stroop word had a greater effect on retrieval of relevant information than on its initial processing. This heightened effect of Stroop interference on retrieval was especially apparent on between-modes matching trials. The reverse Stroop effect was as strong as or stronger than the standard Stroop effect. Results were related to theoretical notions concerning the nature and locus of Stroop interference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating models of working memory through the effects of concurrent irrelevant information.

Working memory is believed to play a central role in almost all domains of higher cognition, yet the specific mechanisms involved in working memory are still fiercely debated. We describe a neuroimaging experiment with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a companion behavioral experiment, and in both we seek to adjudicate between alternative theoretical models of working memory on the basis of the effects of interference from articulatory suppression, irrelevant speech, and irrelevant nonspeech. In Experiment 1 we examined fMRI signal changes induced by each type of irrelevant information while subjects performed a probed recall task. Within a principally frontal and left-lateralized network of brain regions, articulatory suppression caused an increase in activity during item presentation, whereas both irrelevant speech and nonspeech caused relative activity reductions during the subsequent delay interval. In Experiment 2, the specific timing of interference was manipulated in a delayed serial recall task. Articulatory suppression was found to be most consequential when it coincided with item presentation, whereas both irrelevant speech and irrelevant nonspeech effects were strongest when limited to the subsequent delay period. Taken together, these experiments provide convergent evidence for a dissociation of articulatory suppression from the 2 irrelevant sound conditions. Implications of these findings are considered for 4 prominent theories of working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The comparative validity of two biographical inventory keys.

The predictability of ACE scores, high school average grades and a math test, combined with a biography inventory, was tested against average grades for the 3 quarters of the freshman year at Emory University. A deviate and an external scoring key were compared. Over 500 hundred Ss for one year were compared with a similar number for another. Both keys yielded an improvement in predictability when the biographical inventory was included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of morphological information on cataphoric pronoun assignment.

In 3 eye-tracking experiments, the authors investigated the use of morphological information during pronoun resolution. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that disruption occurred when a preferred assignment was inconsistent with gender information. Experiment 2 ensured that this difficulty was not due to the introduction of a new discourse entity. Experiment 3 showed that disruption also occurred when number information was inconsistent with the preferred assignment. The results indicate that the use of morphological information is delayed until after the computation of coreference relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relevance of irrelevant relevance.

Comments on I. Silverman (see record 1972-02778-001) and encourages him to devote his methodological efforts to areas in which realistic contributions can be made to the improvement of society and of social psychology (in that order). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Irrelevant speech and irrelevant tones: The relative importance of speech to the irrelevant speech effect.

Irrelevant auditory stimuli disrupt immediate serial recall. In the equipotentiality hypothesis, D. M. Jones and W. J. Macken (see record 1993-20312-001) made the controversial prediction that speech and tones have an equivalent disruptive effect. In the present study, 5 experiments tested their hypothesis. Experiments 1–4 showed that meaningful speech disrupts recall more than do tones. Experiments 3 and 4 provided some evidence that meaningful speech disrupts recall more than does meaningless speech, and Experiment 4 showed that even meaningless speech disrupts recall more than do tones. Using slightly different experimental procedures, Experiment 5 showed that letters disrupt recall more than do tones. Implications of these results for a number of theories of primary memory and the irrelevant speech effect are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Permissible syndromes. The influence of redundancy on patterns of information

A model of clinical decision according to Bayes's formula is described and the problem of redundant informations is evaluated. It is postulated that a definitory and a syndromatic redundancy are unavoidable, which is why it is necessary to develop a correction factor. A series of indicants is investigated in two populations, and it is shown that correction for redundancy results in far-reaching changes in the patterns of information. The permissible syndrome is defined: a subset of informations containing the necessary and sufficient predictive capacity. The methods described may be used for an evaluation of common syndromes and may enable comparisons of information patterns, related to identical or different criteria.     

Effect of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth on the evaluation of college instructors.

Examined the influence of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth as perceived by students and teachers on teacher evaluation. Male and female instructors in the same department were matched on the level of course taught. 22 pairs of courses evaluated by 838 college students were obtained. Twenty Instructional Improvement Questionnaire items that directly evaluate instructor performance were analyzed using a 3-factor analysis of variance and the .0025 level of significance. No interactions between faculty sex, student sex, and teacher warmth were found. When Ss rated their instructor's interest and warmth, teachers who were warmer and primarily interested in students received higher ratings in teaching effectiveness. When teachers rated themselves on warmth and interest, self-ratings interacted with faculty sex. Generally, female teachers received higher effectiveness ratings than did male teachers when they considered themselves low in warmth or interested in course content. Male teachers who rated themselves high in warmth or primarily interested in students received higher ratings than did male teachers who rated themselves low in warmth or primarily interested in course content, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)