A test of the declining interest hypothesis.

Responds to the comment by A. Rowan and K. J. Shapiro (see record 1997-07159-001) on H. A. Herzog's (see record 1996-13937-001) examination of media coverage of the animal rights movement. Herzog agrees with Rowan and Shapiro's assessment of the movement's impact on popular culture and contemporary attitudes toward the treatment of animals. Herzog states that the amount of coverage in print media represents a fairly crude reflection of the cultural status of a grassroots social movement. However, he offers the meager turnout for the 1996 "March for the Animals" as an excellent test of the "declining interest hypothesis." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the "epinephrine hypothesis" in humans

The absorbed gamma dose rate in air 1 m above soil due to natural gamma emitters and 137Cs from the Chernobyl accident was determined inside a Quercus conferta Kit ecosystem in Northern Greece by combination of Monte Carlo simulations with the MCNP code and in-situ gamma spectrometry measurements. The total absorbed gamma dose rate in air is about 64 nGy h(-1), where 40% of this value is due to 137Cs and 60% to natural gamma emitters. The Monte Carlo simulations indicated that the gamma absorbed dose rate in air due to 137Cs is mainly due (70%) to unscattered radiation and to a lesser extent (30%) to the scattered radiation. The results obtained with the Monte Carlo simulations for the unscattered radiation were in very good agreement with the experimental values deduced by in-situ gamma spectrometry measurements. From the combination of the Monte Carlo simulations and in-situ gamma spectrometry measurements a conversion factor C = 1 nGy h(-1)/kBq m(-2) was deduced for 137Cs. This factor must be used with caution and only for forest sites similar to the one used for this work.     

A test of the complementarity hypothesis in A-B research.

Results of a study with 48 male undergraduates fail to support J. Berzin and E. Seidman's (see record 1969-13028-001) complementarity hypothesis, which predicts that it would be more beneficial to pair therapists with patients on the basis of dissimilar reactions to stress. Rather, the data tend to support the notion of greater effectiveness of "A" therapists, or the "super-A" hypothesis of G. M. Chartier and W. Weiss (see record 1974-28173-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A biased test of the encoding shift hypothesis.

A recognition memory experiment with 72 8-, 11-, and 20-yr-olds investigated the hypothesis that with age, semantic encoding becomes increasingly important relative to acoustic encoding. Target words were paired with words related either semantically or acoustically in order to bias encoding in the direction of features common to both words. In support of the encoding shift hypothesis, recognition accuracy improved with age when encoding was biased semantically relative to accuracy when encoding was biased acoustically. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Projection: A test of the psychoanalytic hypothesis.

Investigated classical Freudian projection with 83 male and 105 female college students. After completing the Sexual Defensiveness Scale, Ss selected a most unfavorable other from a group of photographs. The experimental Ss then examined a portfolio containing pornographic material. Following this, all Ss described an unfavorable other and themselves according to a standard list of trait rating scales. Results show that higher sexually defensive experimental Ss denied being sexually aroused and, in accordance with the psychoanalytic hypothesis, projected the highest amounts of arousal (the trait lustful) onto an unfavorable other. This effect was significantly increased when the unfavorable other was a male target and was further increased when female Ss rated male targets. Findings offer support for the concept of classical projection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the salience hypothesis of dream recall.

Tested the hypothesis that dream salience (subjective impact of the generated dream) would be greater for frequent than infrequent dream recallers. Dream recall data from 8 frequent and 8 infrequent recallers (male undergraduates) were obtained under 2 conditions: tape-recorded verbal reports given to the E after interruption of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and written diary reports after awakening by alarm clock in the absence of the E. Analysis of the verbal reports confirmed the hypothesis. The relatively greater difference between the 2 groups in mean percentage of dream diary recall for Stage 2 (non rapid eye movement; NREM) than for REM awakenings suggests that salience differences between the 2 groups may be greater following NREM than REM awakenings. Although salience may be affected by dream recall as well as dream generation processes (imagery ability seems related to both), the higher frequency of temporal references to past and future in the dreams of frequent recallers appears to relate to the generation process alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A further test of the general monitoring skill hypothesis.

This study tested the general monitoring skill hypothesis, which states that skilled adult learners monitor their comprehension using domain-general metacognitive knowledge in addition to domain-specific knowledge. College students completed 8 tests of fluid and crystallized ability. The 8 tests yielded 3 performance components, whereas measures of monitoring yielded 2 principal components. These findings supported 2 main conclusions: Monitoring scores are correlated across multiple domains, and individuals may possess separate general monitoring skills for fluid and crystallized tasks. The authors also examined the degree to which modular, information-encapsulation, and domain-general theories of cognition accommodated these findings. Domain-general theories, such as the general monitoring skill hypothesis, provided the best explanation of the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the developmental imagery hypothesis in children's associative learning.

Two samples of kindergartners (a total of 125 Ss) were administered a paired-associate learning task at the beginning and end of the school year, under either regular (control) or self-generated visual imagery instructions. Consistent with previous speculations about the relationship between maturation and the efficacy of imagery instructions on this task, age predicted paired-associate learning performance in the imagery condition even when general ability and amount of formal schooling were controlled. In contrast, age was not significantly related to learning in the control condition. Results support the developmental imagery hypothesis. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A further test of the scanning hypothesis in a tachistoscopic recognition.

2 groups of 10 undergraduate Ss participated in an experiment where a horizontal row of 8 letters was tachistoscopically presented across fixation. One group was required to report the letters in alphabetic order; the other received no specific instruction regarding order of report. The alphabetic order of report instruction effectively eliminated any systematic relationship between position in the report sequence and position in the stimulus. Free order of report was usually in a left-to-right sequence with respect to stimulus position. In spite of the difference between order of report, no difference in the left-field superiority for the 2 groups was found. It is concluded that left-field superiority in tachistoscopic recognition cannot be explained on the basis of left-to-right responding. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the golden section hypothesis with elicted constructs.

Dimensions of meaning elicited from Ss were used to test the "golden section" hypothesis, which predicts that when people use bipolar dimensions to make judgments about their personal acquaintances, they will use the evaluatively positive pole an average of 62% of the time. 44 undergraduates completed the Role Construct Repertory Test with 21 acquaintances judged in terms of 18 elicited dimensions. Results support the extension of the golden section to dichotomous judgments with elicited constructs and also to scalar judgments for males. This study provides the 1st direct evidence of the greater perceived usefulness of those constructs that Ss used in the 62/38 proportion. Discussion focuses on implications for the manner in which people use their personal constructions of others. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive affect: A test of behavioral hypothesis.

Behavioral hypotheses about depression suggest that depression is a function of rate of reinforcement. Initial level of depression and locus of control were hypothesized to enhance this effect. 96 normal volunteer female Ss (62 nursing students and 34 high school students) were separated into groups on the basis of median splits on MMPI D and Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale scores, and were given either 80 or 20% positive reinforcement on a pseudosocial intelligence task. The lower rate of reinforcement resulted in more depressive behavior as measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, self-confidence ratings, and response latencies. Partial support was obtained for the enhancement of the reinforcement effect with initially more depressed Ss. No locus of control effects were found. Ss who were more depressed initially underestimated the amount of positive feedback they received. Results are discussed in terms of behavioral accounts of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the tau-dot hypothesis of braking control in the real world.

A controlled experiment used instrumented vehicles in a real-world driving task to compare D. N. Lee's (1976) tau-dot hypothesis of braking control with an alternative based on the direct estimation and control of ideal deceleration (T. Yates, M. Harris, & P. Rock, 2004). Drivers braked to stop as closely as possible to a visual target from different starting speeds and times-to-contact. The data provided little support for the tau-dot hypothesis, and analysis suggested that braking in the real world is better explained by a direct deceleration strategy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the hypothesis that diagnostic ultrasound disrupts myelination in neonatal rats

Neonatal rats were exposed or sham exposed for 30 min to pulsed ultrasound [2.25 MHz carrier frequency, 1 microsecond pulse length, 50 Hz pulse repetition frequency (PRF), 50 W/cm2 Imax, 2 mW/cm2 ITA], euthanised and prepared for electron microscopic analysis of the nodes of Ranvier of the dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord. There was also a cage control. All materials were processed and scored blindly, evaluating whether perinodal myelin was normal. Rats from all regimens had areas of disrupted myelination. There was no statistically significant difference among the regimens for absence of myelination. The results did not confirm an earlier report that diagnostic ultrasound disrupts myelination in neonatal rats.     

An epidemiological test of the hyperinsulinemia-hypertension hypothesis

The association between hyperinsulinemia and hypertension was tested in a population of 421 men and 228 women from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Subjects are white, middle-class, generally healthy, community-dwelling volunteers who ranged in age from 17-95 yr. Those with disease or medications known to influence any of the studied variables were excluded from the analysis. Twenty-five percent of the subjects were borderline or hypertensive [systolic blood pressure (BP) > or = 140 or diastolic BP > or = 90 mm Hg]. Standard oral glucose tolerance tests were performed; the logarithms of the fasting insulin level and insulin area were used in the analyses. In addition, body mass index and percent body fat (from age and skinfold thickness equations) and waist hip ratio were computed. In simple correlations, systolic BP and diastolic BP were statistically significantly related to insulin levels (only 1-4% of the variance was explained). Since age, body fat, fat distribution, insulin levels, and BP were highly intercorrelated, insulin and blood pressure correlations were examined after controlling for the confounding variables. Correlations of BP and insulin levels adjusted for age, body fat, and fat distribution were entirely nonsignificant. In this large noninterventive population study, the hyperinsulinemia-hypertension hypothesis is not confirmed.     

A fair test of the spreading activation hypothesis: a study of affective congruency effects in the Stroop test

It is argued that the Stroop color-naming task is especially suited to investigate affective priming effects in the sense of an automatic spreading of activation to other concepts of the same valence, because (a) the Stroop task is not prone to an explanation of affective congruency effects on the basis of reaction priming or reaction interference, and (b) it is possible to detect specific (fast and efficient stimulus processing due to heightened accessibility) as well as nonspecific (cognitive interference, triggering of global action tendencies) effects of an activation of valenced concepts in the Stroop task. Two experiments were conducted to investigate associative and affective priming effects with the Stroop task. In a first experiment (N = 36, SOA = 300 ms) a standard priming procedure was chosen; the primes were presented without any processing instructions. In a second experiment (N = 48, SOA = 500ms) the primes had to be reproduced after naming the color of the target. In both experiments significant association effects were found for the associative material. For the valenced material no affective congruency effects were found in either experiment. The present results are not compatible with the hypothesis of an automatic affective spreading of activation that was given as an explanation of affective congruency effects in previous studies using different tasks.     

Realistic job previews: A test of the adverse self-selection hypothesis.

The realistic job preview (RJP) literature has focused more on posthire outcomes such as employee retention than on prehire outcomes such as applicant attraction and job choice behavior. This study extends the RJP literature by focusing on 2 important issues related to applicant attraction: (a) the weight applicants place on negative information in relation to other variables such as pay level and promotional opportunity and (b) whether the "best" applicants react differently to negative information than do other applicants (adverse self-selection). Results indicate that applicants place a fairly high negative weight on negative job information, relative to other vacancy characteristics. The results regarding adverse self-selection are less clear but suggest that the highest quality applicants may be less willing to pursue jobs for which negative information has been presented, especially when doing so imposes opportunity costs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic age regression: A test of the functional ablation hypothesis.

The hypothesis that responses acquired after the time to which S is hypnotically age regressed are functionally ablated was tested by utilizing a modification of the retroactive interference paradigm with a paired associates task. 5 preselected female Ss learned List A (S1-R1). 2 wk. later they learned List B (S1-R2) whereupon they were hypnotically age regressed to the date of original learning, when R1 strength was high, and given further S1-R1 trials. Appropriate A-A and A-B-A comparison groups (N = 10 each) were employed. The findings that the hypnotic age regression procedures failed to preclude the occurrence of interlist intrusions in the relearning of S1-R1 does not support the hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critical test of the overlap hypothesis for odor mixture perception.

The overlap hypothesis of mixture perception is based on the observation that mixtures of perceptually similar odorants tend to smell different from their components (configural), whereas mixtures of dissimilar odorants smell like their components (elemental). Because input patterns of perceptually similar odorants tend to overlap more than dissimilar ones, it has been hypothesized that component pattern overlap can predict a mixture's perceptual quality, with high overlap predicting a configural response and low overlap an elemental response. The authors used 7 pairs of odorants chosen for different degrees of overlap in their monomolecular 2-deoxyglucose activation patterns to test the theory in a go/no-go behavioral assay that measured generalization from binary mixtures to components. The authors show that individual component odorant input patterns are not sufficient to predict mixture quality, falsifying the overlap hypothesis. An important finding is that different odorant pairs with similar glomerular overlap showed opposite behavioral–perceptual responses, suggesting nonlinear effects at the receptor or glomerular level or the critical involvement of higher order areas. Thus, the authors posit that imaging the mixtures themselves may provide additional information needed to reliably predict mixture quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)