The effect of a diagram retrieval cue on spontaneous analogical transfer.

Investigated the effect of a retrieval manipulation on spontaneous transfer in problem solving in 81 undergraduates. Ss read a story illustrating a problem and its solution prior to solving an analogous transfer problem in a different semantic domain. The story contained diagrams that schematically depicted the problem and solution presented in the story. A visual retrieval cue for the prior story was manipulated by including one of the story's diagrams with the transfer problem. Results indicate that the retrieval cue facilitated spontaneous transfer although additional Ss showed transfer when a hint was given by the experimenter to use the prior story to solve the problem. Similar results of spontaneous transfer and transfer obtained with a hint were obtained for Ss who received only diagrams prior to solving the transfer problem. The educational implications of retrieval manipulations in problem solving are discussed. (French abstract) (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatiotemporal distribution of facilitation and inhibition of return arising from the reflexive orienting of covert attention.

Currently, there is debate regarding both the spatial and temporal relationship between facilitation and inhibition of return (IOR) components of attention, as observed on the covert orienting of visual attention task (COVAT). These issues were addressed in a series of experiments where the spatial and temporal relationships between cue and target were manipulated. Facilitation occurred only when the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was short and there was temporal overlap between cue and target. IOR occurred only when SOA was long and there was no temporal overlap between cue and target. Facilitation encompassed the cued location and all locations between the cue and fixation, whereas IOR arose for the entire cued hemifield. These findings suggest that the facilitation and IOR found on COVATs that use noninformative peripheral cues are separable and stimulus-driven processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in episodic retrieval: The role of differences in concept representations in semantic memory.

Developmental differences in the relative salience of features in concept representations in semantic memory and their contributions to differences in cued recall were examined in two experiments. For second graders, fifth graders, and college students, acquisition encoding of cue–target noun pair information was constrained by means of defining-, characteristic-, category-, and incidental-feature orienting questions. At retrieval, the encoding of cue information alone was constrained (Experiment 1) within subjects by means of the same (e.g., defining at acquisition and defining at retrieval) or related (e.g., defining at acquisition and characteristic at retrieval) retrieval questions or was unconstrained (Experiment 2). In both experiments, the acquisition presentation duration was manipulated (1 s or 5 s) in order to examine the spread of feature activation within concepts. The results showed that recall varied with feature salience, with the salience greatest for defining features. In addition, the results suggested that the relative salience of defining features was at least as great for the children as for the adults. The results offer no support for Keil and Batterman's (1984) hypothesis of a shift from characteristic to defining features in the development of word meaning representation in memory. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

This is like that: The use of earlier problems and the separation of similarity effects.

Novices attempting to solve a problem often are reminded of an earlier problem that illustrated a principle. Two experiments examined how these earlier problems are used and how this use is related to these remindings. Subjects studied four probability principles with related word problems. Test problems varied in their similarity to the study problems on story lines, objects, and correspondence of objects (variable roles). Experiment 1 tested whether remindings cue the principle or serve as the sources of detailed analogies. When the appropriate formula was provided with each test, the similarity of story lines had no effect, but object correspondences had a large effect. These results support an analogical account in which mapping is affected by the similarity of objects between study and test problems. Experiment 2 began to separate the aspects of similarity affecting the access and use of earlier problems by showing that, with confusable principles, similar story lines increased the access, but did not affect the use. The access appears to be sensitive to the relative similarity of examples because with distinctive principles, similar story lines had little effect. Discussion focuses on the further specification of the processes of noticing and analogical use of earlier problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of differential encoding and feature overlap accounts of typicality effects in free recall.

Examined 2 accounts (the differential-encoding vs feature-overlap account) of the typicality effect in free recall. 64 students were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions (no cue, category cue, property cue, unrelated word), with half the Ss in each condition being presented with typical items and the other half given atypical items. Results support the feature overlap account. Providing a cue that emphasized the features of a category attenuated the difference in free recall accuracy and organization between typical and atypical items. Although number of items recalled increased by presentation of a typical list, the clustering measure appeared most affected by the typicality manipulation. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reaading fluency: Episodic integration across texts.

Seven experiments examined the influence of a memorial text representation on the later reading of a different text (across-text transfer). The texts were related by overlap in vocabulary only, in content only, in both vocabulary and content, or in neither vocabulary nor content. Results indicate that there was facilitation in reading the second text when the two passages were thematically continuous, irrespective of overlap in vocabulary. This facilitation was undiminished over a 15-min delay between the readings of members of the story pair. Overlap in vocabulary between unrelated stories resulted in slower reading of the second story, but this negative transfer was transient. Experiments 5–7 provide a finer grained analysis of the text relatedness effects. The benefits of a memorial representation are interpreted in terms of episodic text representations, rather than abstract schema. Meaning overlap is necessary for such reading facilitation, but context-free word representations play little part in the across-text transfer observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time course of the blindness to response-compatible stimuli.

This article examines the time course of a deficit in identifying a stimulus sharing a compatible feature with a response that is executed in parallel ("blindness to response-compatible stimuli," J. Müsseler & B. Hommel, 1997a). In 5 experiments, participants performed a timed response, and the presentation point of time of a to-be-identified stimulus was varied in respect to response execution. A blindness effect was observed when the stimulus was presented between response cue offset and response execution. In contrast, the identification of a stimulus presented before the response cue or after response execution was not affected by stimulus-response compatibility—a finding that rules out a retention-based explanation. These results support an explanation that states that the perceptual processing of a stimulus feature is impaired as long as the shared perception–action feature code is integrated into the representation of a to-be-executed response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A novel view of between-categories contrast and within-category assimilation.

This research manipulated the portion of a category distribution that is misclassified by the optimal classifier and investigated the impact on assessments of category attributes. Three separate studies manipulated the direction of overlap, the extent of overlap, and the relative base rate of the comparison category. All 3 studies produced large between-categories contrast and within-category assimilation. As expected, these effects were enhanced in conditions in which the optimal classifier misclassified a larger portion of the target category. Study 4 demonstrated that intercategory overlap in the absence of overt classification does not produce contrast and assimilation. Ironically, optimizing categorization accuracy can produce highly inaccurate beliefs about category attributes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who said what? Source memory for narrator and character agents in literary short stories.

One dimension of reading literacy involves the tracking of agents associated with the text. In a literary short story, there is a society of character agents and pragmatic agents. This study investigated the relative salience of different classes of agents in memory. Two experiments measured source memory as an index of agent salience in long-term memory. Patterns of source memory scores supported an invisible third-person narrator hypothesis and an agent amalgamation hypothesis, but not a structural prominence hypothesis: First-person narrator > nonnarrator character > third-person narrator > 0. Statement detection parameters did not significantly differ among the 3 classes of agents, so differences in source memory could not be explained by differences in the content of the speech acts. Source memory scores also could not be explained by surface features of the text, differences among readers, and sophisticated guessing on the basis of a story abstract. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eliminating inhibition of return by changing salient nonspatial attributes in a complex environment.

Inhibition of return (IOR) occurs when a target is preceded by an irrelevant stimulus (cue) at the same location: Target detection is slowed, relative to uncued locations. In the present study, we used relatively complex displays to examine the effect of repetition of nonspatial attributes. For both color and shape, attribute repetition produced a robust inhibitory effect that followed a time course similar to that for location-based IOR. However, the effect only occurred when the target shared both the feature (i.e., color or shape) and location with the cue; this constraint implicates a primary role for location. The data are consistent with the idea that the system integrates consecutive stimuli into a single object file when attributes repeat, hindering detection of the second stimulus. The results are also consistent with an interpretation of IOR as a form of habituation, with greater habituation occurring with increasing featural overlap of a repeated stimulus. Critically, both of these interpretations bring the IOR effect within more general approaches to attention and perception, rather than requiring a specialized process with a limited function. In this view, there is no process specifically designed to inhibit return, suggesting that IOR may be the wrong framing of inhibitory repetition effects. Instead, we suggest that repetition of stimulus properties can interfere with the ability to focus attention on the aspects of a complex display that are needed to detect the occurrence of the target stimulus; this is a failure of activation, not an inhibition of processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A static color discontinuity can capture spatial attention when the target is an abrupt-onset singleton.

C. L. Folk, R. W. Remington, and J. C. Johnston's (1992) contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis states that a salient visual feature will involuntarily capture attention only when the observer's attentional set includes similar features. In four experiments, when the target's relevant feature was its being an abruptly onset singleton, attentional capture occurred for a static discontinuity cue that was the boundary between a group of red Xs contiguously joined to a group of green Os within a single row. Such an attentional capture effect is novel and contrary to Folk et al.'s (1992) hypothesis, because the attentional set for the target should have included abrupt onset but not color discontinuity, which was the feature that captured attention. These capture effects were involuntary because they occurred even when the target never appeared in the same location as the cue, and color could not have been used as a cue to signal the appearance of the target array (cf. B. S. Gibson & E. M. Kelsey, 1998). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generation effects in free recall: Further support for a three-factor theory.

A framework is presented that helps explain and predict generation effects in free recall (for between-Ss manipulations of generating vs reading). When the targets share common features and when that shared information is salient to Ss, Ss will exploit that information to help generate the target items. This produces more relational processing among the targets (relative to reading), enhancing free recall. Consistent with this idea, when shared information (among targets) was salient, generation effects in free recall were found under encoding conditions that can disrupt generation effects in cued recall (e.g., pairing targets with unrelated cues). Further, within the same list, generation effects emerged in free recall for targets that were processed after shared information became evident but not for targets processed prior to the availability of the shared information. In recognition, generation effects were found for targets regardless of when they were processed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does attention affect visual feature integration?

Investigated whether (1) the integration of color and shape information is affected by attending to the stimulus location and (2) attending to a stimulus location enhances the perceptual representation of the stimulus or merely affects decision processes. In 3 experiments with 39 Ss (aged 16–38 yrs), Ss were briefly presented with colored letters. On most trials, Ss were precued to the stimulus location (valid cue); on some trials, a nonstimulus location was cued (invalid cue). Ss were less likely to combine colors and letter shapes incorrectly following a valid cue. The attentional facilitation afforded by the cue was not limited to feature integration but also affected the registration of features; however, when the amount of feature information was strictly controlled, attention still affected feature integration. It is suggested that orienting attention to the location of the cue affects the quality of the perceptual representation for features and their integration. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The postinformation effect and reductions in retroactive interference.

In a 2-list interference paradigm, G. H. Bower and T. Mann (see record 1993-04371-001) found reduced retroactive interference when they informed people who had just learned that all of the List 2 items shared a feature that was not shared with List 1 items. Although the reliability of this postinformation effect has been challenged (e.g., G. H. Bower et al; 1996), the authors of the present study obtained the effect in 3 experiments and also showed that the speed of recall was enhanced by providing such a postinformation cue to learners. Boundary conditions for the occurrence of the postinformation effect are discussed, as well as the role of source monitoring in producing it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disengaging attention: On the locus of the cue-duration effect in partial report.

Increasing cue duration impairs performance in bar-probe partial report when cues are presented peripherally, but not centrally (P. Dixon, R. Gordon, A. Leung, & V. Di Lollo, 1997). Three experiments examined whether this cue-duration effect reflects processes of exogenous attention. The effect of cue duration on partial report performance with peripheral, but not central, cues was replicated (Experiment 1). Further experiments manipulated the degree that exogenous versus endogenous modes of selection were favored and found that the cue-duration effect for peripheral cues was reduced (1) when blocks contained a high proportion of central cues (Experiment 2) and (2) when the color of the cue indicated the location of the target (Experiment 3). These findings challenge the view that the cue-duration effect is restricted to exogenous attention and are discussed in terms of the process of disengaging attention from the cue to reallocate attention to the target representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The generality of the effects of cue structure similarity on cue discrimination and recall.

Investigated the effect of cue similarity on associative learning, recall, and cue discrimination in 5 experiments involving a total of 634 undergraduates as Ss. In all experiments, cues consisted of 3 elements shared with other cues. Position and consistency of these elements varied among different conditions. In each experiment, Ss associated some kind of target information with a meaningless string of consonants or meaningful words. The procedures for acquisition included (1) single vs multiple study presentations, (2) a long mixed list containing various structures, (3) incidental learning involving semantic processing of cues and targets, (4) use of sentences containing both cues and targets, and (5) embedding cues and targets in a story. Results show that shared elements produced interference with all procedures and materials. (French abstract) (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory connections between thematically similar episodes.

Investigated the use of cross-episode connections (i.e., when 2 episodes with a shared theme are connected through a thematic structure) in comprehension and memory in 6 experiments with 106 undergraduates. Results from the use of a priming technique in Exps I and II indicate that verification time for a test sentence from 1 story was speeded by an immediately preceding test sentence from a thematically similar story but only when Ss were given instructions to rate the similarities of the stories. In Exp III–VI, a single test sentence was presented immediately after a story was read, with timing controlled by presenting the story one word at a time. Response time for a test sentence from a previously read story was facilitated if the immediately preceding story was thematically similar but only if the previously read story was extensively prestudied. It is concluded that during reading of an episode, thematic information may be encoded to lead to activation of similar episodes and formation of connections in memory between episodes, but such encoding is not automatic and depends on Ss' strategies and task difficulty. Sample stories are appended. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Informational mood impact on effort-related cardiovascular reponse: The diagnostic value of mood counts.

Drawing on the mood-behavior model (G. H. E. Gendolla, 2000), 2 experiments examined moods' informational impact on effort-related cardiovascular response. After being induced into positive versus negative moods, participants performed a memory task (Experiment 1) or a letter-cancellation task (Experiment 2). Half the participants received a cue that their mood could have been manipulated. As expected, both studies found stronger reactivity of systolic blood pressure in a negative mood than in a positive mood when no cue was provided. This effect diminished in the cue conditions. Additionally, achievement corresponded to systolic blood pressure reactivity (Experiment 1), the cue manipulation had no effect on mood, and mood had a congruency effect on subjective task difficulty in the no-cue conditions (Experiment 2). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality of adult book reading affects children's emergent literacy.

The authors assessed the relative benefits of 3 styles of adult book reading for preschoolers' emergent literacy. A describer style focused on describing pictures during the reading, a comprehender style focused on story meaning, and a performance-oriented style introduced the book and discussed story meaning on completion. Forty-eight 4-year-olds were randomly assigned to receive 1 of the 3 reading styles over a 6-week period. Pretests and posttests measured children's receptive vocabulary, print, and story comprehension skills. A describer style of reading resulted in the greatest overall benefits for children's vocabulary and print skills, but a performance-oriented style was also beneficial when children's initial skill levels were taken into account. Future book-reading interventions should be tailored to children's initial skill levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)