Effect of information feedback on matrices learning for differing socioeconomic levels.

Examined the differential effect of 2 kinds of information feedback on performance when used to train matrix completion strategies. A matrices training task was administered to 120 white male Ss representing Grades 1 and 3 and low- and middle-socioeconomic status (SES) levels. After 4 enclosure-type items had been learned under 1 of 2 feedback conditions, Ss responded to a transfer set of 10 similar items. Results indicate that the 3rd-grade Ss learned more quickly than the 1st-grade Ss (p 1969-02983-001) concerning differential conceptual performance abilities characteristic of different SES levels. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of nurses' mode of dress on behavior of psychiatric patients differing in information-processing complexity.

Assessed the impact of nurses' mode of dress (uniform vs. street clothes) on the perception and behavior of 20 patients differing in their dependence on stereotypic information in the decision-making process. It was found that a nurse in uniform was perceived more stereotypically, i.e., as more of a benevolent autocrat, than the same nurse in street clothes behaving the same way. This was dramatically demonstrated in Ss characterized by extreme dependence on stereotypic information, who also behaved less adaptively in the experimental social interaction with a nurse in street clothes due to their tendency to withdraw. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dialectical responses to questions about dialectical thinking.

Responds to comments by S. F. Chan (see record 2000-05933-017), D. Y. F. Ho (see record 2000-05933-018), and Y.-T. Lee (see record 2000-05933-019) on the article by K. Peng and R. E. Nisbett (see record 1999-11125-001) that made a number of assertions that reveal problems in logic and argumentation. In their studies, Peng and Nisbett found that Chinese tended to like dialectical proverbs and social resolution better than did Americans, and Chinese tended to prefer dialectical arguments over classic Western logical arguments. In the current article, Peng and Nisbett defend their work against criticisms made by the aforementioned authors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The complexity of learning disabilities.

Reviews the book, Learning about learning disabilities (2nd ed.) by B. Wong (1998). This book is a reasonably comprehensive survey of the state of the art. The book has many worthwhile chapters and will be of interest to advanced-level students, investigators, and clinicians in the field. This book is intended for advanced undergraduate or graduate students. It is a collection of chapters; the individual chapters are quite good but the authors of these individual chapters appear not to have read the other chapters. The student using this book and even the more seasoned investigator or clinician familiar with the field will find it very frustrating that there is no synthesis across chapters. Students reading this book will not have the background knowledge and sophistication of the authors of these chapters. Although it is suggested that this be used as a textbook, it is missing some very important information, and there is not much synthesis. I think that some students may become frustrated at the lack of both integration and consistency among the diverse chapters. There is a technical problem in that a significant number of bibliographic entries are incorrect. Compiling a reference list is tedious but not to have an accurate one is frustrating to the reader who may want to consult some of the references. No book is perfect. However, this book is an interesting balance of many positive and some troublesome features. It is comprehensive and provides a view of a fascinating field. The authors and editor are to be congratulated for their efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Letter–sound complexity in learning to identify words.

Conducted a longitudinal study of 65 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders who were good readers and 41 older pupils who were reading on 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-grade levels to examine how complexity of letter–sound correspondence rules and instruction affect reading acquisition. Ss were given the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and were tested 3 times during a school year with 10 identification tasks on the Kennedy Institute Phonics Test. A hierarchy of difficulty was found, including consonant vowel combinations, short vowel words, long vowel words, special rule words, and nonsense words. Two phases of acquisition occurred. Short vowel words and simpler tasks were learned before long vowel words and more difficult tasks. Sequence of classroom instruction could not have caused this effect, since it included simultaneous instruction on words at different levels of difficulty. Acquisition was based on the complexity of the rules. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of equipment complexity on inspection performance.

62 experienced inspectors inspected 10 different items of electronic equipment covering a wide range of complexity, 8 or more inspectors inspected each item. Inspection performance was found to have an almost perfect inverse relationship with equipment complexity. The rank-order correlation between percentage of defects detected and pair comparison ratings of complexity was -.92; between percentage of defects detected and number of parts it was -.91. The results indicated that equipment complexity has a significant detrimental effect on inspection performance and that this effect cannot be overcome by extending the amount of inspection time allotted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactional structure of interviews conducted by counselors of differing levels of cognitive complexity.

Investigated (a) the probabilistic interactional structure of counseling interviews conducted by 2 groups of counselors of differing levels of cognitive complexity and (b) the consistency of that structure within each group across sequences of 2 interviews. 26 master's level counselor trainees served as Ss. Analysis of the counselor–client interaction patterns between the 2 groups of counselors and across the 2-interview sequences was done using chi-square tests of homogeneity on the sequential verbal response–response transitions of the counseling interviews. The results provide evidence of (a) interactional process differences between counselors of differing levels of cognitive complexity and (b) consistency of interactional response patterns across counseling interviews. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbatim and paraphrased adjunct questions and learning from prose.

210 college students read passages and answered either verbatim or paraphrased adjunct questions either inserted in the text or massed at the end of the passage. Ss either were or were not permitted to review the passage to answer the questions. On the later posttest containing unfamiliar paraphrased questions, Ss given inserted paraphrased adjunct questions outperformed the other Ss. Results are congruent with a rationale that holds that under appropriate conditions, paraphrased questions influence the state of encoding of items of information presented in a passage. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of context on infants' responses to novel objects.

Studied 24 infants (mean age 27 wks) to test the hypothesis that responses to novelty vary with the degree of change from familiarization to test conditions. One such change is to permit manipulation during familiarization but not on the test. In 2 groups, Ss looked at and manipulated the familiarization objects. Ss who could also manipulate during the tests showed better differentiation between novel and familiar objects than did those who could not manipulate during tests. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subliminally stimulated brain and verbal responses of twins differing in repressiveness.

Combined the average evoked response (AER) technique with subliminal stimulation to investigate unconscious mental processes in an objective and replicable way. Previous work has shown that the AER can discriminate between 2 subliminal stimuli (flashed at 1 msec.), while free associations have been found to contain stimulus-related words. Repressiveness, as rated on the basis of Rorschach performance, appears to be related to a diminution of evoked response amplitude and stimulus-related associates. 12 pairs of 12-21 yr. old twins were used as Ss. 6 pairs differed markedly in repressiveness and 6 pairs were similar in repressiveness. Replicating previous results, it was found that the repressive twins had smaller AER amplitudes than their nonrepressive siblings and associated fewer stimulus-related words. For supraliminal exposures (30 msec.), there was a tendency for amplitude of AER to be reversed as a function of repressiveness. Findings are discussed with respect to attentional and defensive factors. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of background items on responses to personality inventory items.

3 questionnaires were constructed. 1 consisted of just items from the MMPI Social Introversion (Si) Scale. The 2nd had these items intermingled with items (from the MMPI L and K scales) which usually evoke a "true" response. The 3rd questionnaire had the Si items intermingled with items (from the F scale) which usually evoke a "false" response. There were 6 groups (45 Ss each), a male and female group for each form. The experimental hypothesis was that Ss would respond differentially to the Si items depending on the background items. Analysis of variance showed no significant effects associated with the different forms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of complexity association value, and learning on the recognition of random shapes.

Describes 2 experiments, with 90 and 96 college students, respectively, to examine effects of stimulus complexity, association value, and amount of learning on recognition of random shapes. Results were evaluated using the area under the operating characteristic as the recognition measure. Both experiments indicated that increases in complexity and association value of stimuli resulted in poorer recognition performance. Increases in amount of learning in Exp. II improved recognition performance. Separate analyses of hit rate (HR) and false alarm rate (FAR) indicated that complexity affected only HR, learning affected both HR and FAR, and association value affected only FAR. An explanation of the association value effect, based on the retention and use of verbal traces in recognition is offered. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task complexity and verbal evaluation on the learning of normals and schizophrenics.

Tested the relative predictive powers of 3 theories of schizophrenia: S. A. Mednick's (see 33:5) drive theory; E. H. Rodnick and N. Garmezy's censure-deficit theory; and R. Atkinson and N. M. Robinson's (see 36:4) censure-sensitivity theory. 30 normals, 30 process schizophrenics, and 30 reactive schizophrenics were each run in a low- and high-complexity verbal discrimination task. 1/2 of each group was praised for correct responses, 1/2 censured for incorrect ones. While normals did not respond differentially to the reinforcers, schizophrenics tended to learn faster when censured than when praised, supporting Atkinson and Robinson. The performance decrement from the low- to the high-complexity task was equivalent for all groups, which is nonsupportive of Mednick's theory. An alternative explanation of the results is offered and a cautious interpretation of the data is urged due to medication differences between normals and schizophrenics. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of live weight and differing economic values on responses to selection for milk fat, protein, volume, and live weight

Five traits of major economic importance in the New Zealand dairy industry are milk volume, milk fat, milk protein, live weight, and survival. This study evaluated the impact of live weight as a trait in the selection objectives for the New Zealand dairy industry. Live weight of the lactating cow is an important measure because it reflects feeding costs via maintenance feed and salvage values of cows to be culled. In addition, selection responses were evaluated for differing relative economic values for milk protein and milk fat, and selection indexes that included or excluded phenotypic and genotypic correlations between traits were compared. Inclusion of live weight, with a negative economic value in a four-trait selection index with milk, milk fat, and protein resulted in higher economic response. Protein response to selection was not more than 2% when the relative economic value for the ratio of protein to milk fat exceeded 5:1 in a two-trait model; however, milk fat response decreased by over 10%. When a negative relative economic value was assigned to milk fat, economic returns were lower because of lower milk fat responses and the lack of higher protein responses compared with the same ratio for relative economic value but a positive weight for milk fat. Accounting for phenotypic and genetic correlations in deriving selection index weight improved economic response 5%.     

Effect of topical learning and indirect learning directions on prose recall.

Studied the recall effects of telling readers what sentences to learn by referring to words in sentences or to topics of sentences. Ss were 130 undergraduates. There were 5 sets of learning directions: (a) Control directions told Ss to learn the text; (b) word-positive directions gave the 1st few words of relevant (to be learned) sentences; (c) word-negative directions gave the 1st few words of incidental (not to be learned) sentences; (d) topical-positive directions gave the topics of the relevant sentences; and (e) word-negative directions gave the topics of incidental sentences. Word reference (but not topical reference) facilitated relevant recall and depressed incidental recall. Results support the importance of precise reference in the use of learning directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of interest on attention and learning.

The effects of interest on the allocation of attention to, and the learning of, written material were investigated in this study. Twenty-three college students read 72 sentences that had been previously rated for interest. The sentences were presented on an Apple IIe microcomputer that recorded two measures of attention: sentence reading time and reaction time to a secondary task. After sentence presentation, students were given a cued recall test of the material. Results showed that although interesting sentences were learned much better, less attention was allocated to them; hence attention did not serve as a causal mediator between interest and learning. Results also indicated that subjects engaged in some strategy independent of attention to learn the interesting material. The results are discussed in terms of the development of strategies for efficient reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task goals and change in dynamical degrees of freedom with motor learning.

In this article, the authors examined the hypothesis that the direction of the change (increase or decrease) in the dynamical degrees of freedom (dimension) regulated as a function of motor learning is task-dependent. Adult participants learned 1 of 2 isometric force-production tasks (Experiment 1: constant force output; Experiment 2: sinusoidal force output) over 5 days of practice and a 6th day with augmented information withdrawal. The results showed that over practice, the task goal induced either an increase (Experiment 1) or a decrease (Experiment 2) in the dimension of force output as performance error was reduced. These findings support the proposition that the observed increase or decrease in dimension with learning is dependent on both the intrinsic dynamics of the system and the short-term change required to realize the task goal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of self-selected study methods on learning.

Investigated whether the noting of ideas in a text (by underlining, highlighting, or taking notes) is a mediating variable between importance and the learning of those ideas. Three other variables that may affect the process and product of studying were also examined: ability, prior knowledge of the task and text provided by means of prereading main idea questions, and periodic retrospective probe questions asked of subjects during the studying process. Results indicate that noting information has little effect, independent of importance, on the recall of that information. In addition, prereading questions were found to reduce the amount of unimportant information subjects in all ability groups noted; they also improved the recall of important information for the lower ability group. Asking subjects to describe their strategies while studying reduced the amount of information they noted and had some effect on recall. Results were interpreted to mean that providing students with information about the task and text is most beneficial for lower ability students, that verbal reporting during reading affects both the process and product of studying, and that effective studying involves far more than simply underlining or note taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metabolic and endocrine responses to cold air in women differing in aerobic capacity

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to measure resting metabolic rate, plasma norepinephrine, and plasma immunoreactive beta endorphin during exposures to cold air during two consecutive 5-d periods, separated by 2 weekend days, in two groups of women differing in aerobic fitness. METHODS: Plasma norepinephrine (NE), plasma immunoreactive beta-endorphin (IBE), and resting metabolic response (RMR) were measured during repeated exposures to 3.5 degrees C air in two groups of women differing in aerobic fitness. Ten women, separated into highly fit (HFW) and less fit (LFW) groups, sat in 22 degrees C air for 45 min followed by 45 min in 3.5 degrees C air each day during two consecutive 5-d periods separated by two weekend days. RESULTS: Norepinephrine was not different between groups during warm air exposure; however, following 45 min of cold air, NE was two times higher in HFW compared with that in LFW (P < 0.001). Plasma IBE was elevated (P < 0.02) in HFW compared with that in LFW but was not affected by exposure to cold on any test day. Warm RMR was not different between groups and remained unchanged during the study period. Cold RMR was significantly higher in LFW compared with that in HFW (P < 0.01). Resting metabolic rate peaked at 30% of VO2peak in LFW by the 5th minute of cold exposure on day 1 before declining to 21% and remaining steady. In contrast, RMR in HFW peaked at about 13% and then fell to 9.4% before slowly increasing to 14% by the end of 45 min. On other test days HFW RMR increased to 14% of VO2peak and rose slowly through 45 min of cold exposure while LFW RMR peaked at 24% of VO2peak before declining to 20% and remaining steady. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that, in women, aerobic fitness alters the endocrine and metabolic responses to acute cold air exposure. The norepinephrine response is exaggerated in highly fit women exposed to cold but not the metabolic response. Immunoreactive beta endorphin was not affected by exposure to cold but was elevated in highly fit women. We further conclude that the temperature threshold for acclimation to cold air by women may be higher than the air temperature used in this study.