When does length cause the word length effect?

The word length effect, the finding that lists of short words are better recalled than lists of long words, has been termed one of the benchmark findings that any theory of immediate memory must account for. Indeed, the effect led directly to the development of working memory and the phonological loop, and it is viewed as the best remaining evidence for time-based decay. However, previous studies investigating this effect have confounded length with orthographic neighborhood size. In the present study, Experiments 1A and 1B revealed typical effects of length when short and long words were equated on all relevant dimensions previously identified in the literature except for neighborhood size. In Experiment 2, consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC) words with a large orthographic neighborhood were better recalled than were CVC words with a small orthographic neighborhood. In Experiments 3 and 4, using two different sets of stimuli, we showed that when short (1-syllable) and long (3-syllable) items were equated for neighborhood size, the word length effect disappeared. Experiment 5 replicated this with spoken recall. We suggest that the word length effect may be better explained by the differences in linguistic and lexical properties of short and long words rather than by length per se. These results add to the growing literature showing problems for theories of memory that include decay offset by rehearsal as a central feature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can practice eliminate the Psychological Refractory Period effect?

Can people learn to perform two tasks at the same time without interference? To answer this question, the authors trained 6 participants for 36 sessions in a Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) experiment, where Task 1 required a speeded vocal response to an auditory stimulus and Task 2 required a speeded manual response to a visual stimulus. The large PRP effect found initially (353 ms in Session 1) shrank to only about 40 ms over the course of practice, disappearing entirely for 1 of the 6 participants. This reduction in the PRP effect with practice is considerably larger than has been previously reported. The obtained pattern of factor interactions between stimulus onset asynchrony and each of three task difficulty manipulations (Task 1 judgment difficulty, Task 2 stimulus contrast, and Task 2 mapping compatibility) supports a postponement (bottleneck) account of dual-task interference, both before and after practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring the link between racial discrimination and substance use: What mediates? What buffers?

The relation between perceived racial discrimination and substance use was examined in 2 studies that were based on the prototype-willingness model (Gibbons, Gerrard, & Lane, 2003). Study 1, using structural equation modeling, revealed prospective relations between discrimination and use 5 years later in a panel of African American adolescents (M age 10.5 years at Time 1 [T1]) and their parents. For both groups, the relation was mediated by anger and/or hostility. For the adolescents, it was also mediated by behavioral willingness, and it was moderated by supportive parenting. Study 2 was a lab experiment in which a subset of the Study 1 adolescents (M age = 18.5 years) was asked to imagine a discriminatory experience, and then their affect and drug willingness were assessed. As in the survey study, discrimination was associated with more drug willingness, and that relation was again mediated by anger and moderated by supportive parenting. Implications of the results for research and interventions involving reactions to racial discrimination are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is the shelf life of a test? The effect of time on the psychometrics of a cognitive ability test battery.

The psychometric stability of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery was studied with data collected at 5 points over a 16-year period using item response theory (IRT) methods. Although 25 of the 200 items changed significantly over the years across 3 different gender-ethnic groups (i.e., White men, White women, and Black men), the overall characteristics of the tests were not severely affected by item-level changes. Items from tests that were more semantically laden were found to be more susceptible to the effects of time compared with those that focused on skills and principles. The findings are discussed in the context of the effects of time on the effectiveness of psychological measures. A call is made to test developers and test users to pay attention to the shelf life of their tests. The use of IRT methods for studying the effects of time on psychometrics is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What should we expect after the next attack?

A test of any science is its ability to predict events under specified conditions. A test for the psychology represented in this special issue of the American Psychologist is its ability to predict individual and social behavior in the aftermath of a next terror attack. This article draws on that science to make such predictions. These predictions are conditioned on both the nature of the attack and our institutional preparations for it. Some attacks will test our resilience more than others. Whatever the attack, we will reduce its impacts if our institutions take advantage of psychological science. That science can reduce the scope of attacks by limiting terrorists' ability to organize their operations and by enhancing our ability to restrain them. It can reduce the impacts of any attacks that do occur by strengthening the institutions and civil society that must respond to them. Realizing these possibilities will require our social institutions to rely on science, rather than intuition, in dealing with these threats. It will require our profession to provide psychologists with rewards for public service, applied research, and interdisciplinary collaboration, as demanded by complex problems. Responding to these challenges could strengthen society and psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The other-race effect in eyewitness identification: What do we do about it?

The greater difficulty of other-race relative to own-race facial recognition is one of the most researched issues in eyewitness identification. The authors discuss articles in the March 2001 issue of Psychology, Public Policy, and Law as well as some methodological and interpretational problems regarding demonstrations of the other-race identification effect. In spite of some problems with the literature, they conclude that the other-race identification effect is real and that it is relevant to the criminal justice system. The authors propose a system-variable approach in which other-race identification cases receive special preventive treatment at the time of the identification test rather than after-the-fact attempts to assist triers of fact. These preventive procedures include using same-race lineup constructors, larger numbers of fillers in other-race cases, dual lineup techniques in other-race cases, or a combination of these procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explaining the irrelevant-sound effect: Temporal distinctiveness or changing state?

Task-irrelevant background sound disrupts serial recall. One account of this effect assumes that irrelevant events close to or during the presentation of a to-be-remembered list will interfere by disrupting temporal codes. A second account predicts that disruption will be greatest when the burden on rehearsal is high, as order cues in the auditory sequence interfere with those in the memory set. The authors tested these predictions by restricting the sound to different phases of the serial recall task. Sound presented just before the list and sound presented early in list presentation did not disrupt recall, but sound presented late in the list or after list presentation produced significant disruption. Sound presented after the list was more disruptive of recall for early list items than sound presented at the same time as those items. An account based on disruption of serial rehearsal, not the disruption of temporal codes, is supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is the psychiatrist's role in drugs and alcohol?

OBJECTIVE: This article describes a consensus view of the role of psychiatrists in respect of alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems, in response to the view expressed by Wodak [1]. METHOD: The data were selected on the basis of the knowledge and experience of the authors. RESULTS: Psychiatrists have made major contributions in the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of AOD problems over many years in Australia and New Zealand. In recent years there has been an explosion of new knowledge in the AOD area and a shift from mental health to primary and public health care for these patients. Substance use disorders (SUD) are highly prevalent in all areas of psychiatric practice, requiring treatment in their own right as well as complicating the treatment of coexisting psychiatric illness. CONCLUSION: It is argued that psychiatrists have important roles in harm reduction, prevention and policy development; brief and early intervention in SUD in liaison and child psychiatry; and systematic treatment for those with dependence and other psychiatric comorbidity. A research and collaborative approach to AOD services and patients should be encouraged, rather than engaging in divisive debate over "ownership' of this area of clinical practice.     

What is the character of research on leadership character?

This article examines the theories and research on character and leadership by the authors in the Special Issue on “Defining and Measuring Character in Leadership” (Thompson & Riggio, 2010). It explores the variety of definitions and frameworks and identifies similarities across them. We note that the dominant foundations of the frameworks are transformational leadership and positive psychology. This raises concerns that the models may be too narrowly constructed. On the other hand, important insights are offered in the special issue on the measurement of character in leadership. In addition, the articles offer some tentative interventions for promoting leadership character among managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What counts in the development of young children's number knowledge?

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 47(1) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2011-00627-019). A coding error resulted in incorrect item-level data being reported on the point-to-x task (not the children‘s overall performance on this task) in Table 2 and in the section of the Results headed Point-to-X Task Performance (second column, p. 1314). In the first paragraph in the section, the correct average score for knowledge of cardinal meanings of the number words. In the second paragraph in the section, there is an example illustrating children’s greater performance on items involving a target and a distractor that were one digit apart. An additional adjustment in the second paragraph involves the finding that children performed better when at least one of two choice sets was a small number (1–3) than when both choice sets were greater than or equal to 4. More information for the corrections and the corrected table are given in the erratum.] Prior studies indicate that children vary widely in their mathematical knowledge by the time they enter preschool and that this variation predicts levels of achievement in elementary school. In a longitudinal study of a diverse sample of 44 preschool children, we examined the extent to which their understanding of the cardinal meanings of the number words (e.g., knowing that the word “four” refers to sets with 4 items) is predicted by the “number talk” they hear from their primary caregiver in the early home environment. Results from 5 visits showed substantial variation in parents' number talk to children between the ages of 14 and 30 months. Moreover, this variation predicted children's knowledge of the cardinal meanings of number words at 46 months, even when socioeconomic status and other measures of parent and child talk were controlled. These findings suggest that encouraging parents to talk about number with their toddlers, and providing them with effective ways to do so, may positively impact children's school achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What can the diffusion model tell us about prospective memory?

Cognitive process models, such as Ratcliff's (1978) diffusion model, are useful tools for examining cost or interference effects in event-based prospective memory (PM). The diffusion model includes several parameters that provide insight into how and why ongoing-task performance may be affected by a PM task and is ideally suited to analyse performance because both reaction time and accuracy are taken into account. Separate analyses of these measures can easily yield misleading interpretations in cases of speed–accuracy trade-offs. The diffusion model allows us to measure possible criterion shifts and is thus an important methodological improvement over standard analyses. Performance in an ongoing lexical-decision task was analysed with the diffusion model. The results suggest that criterion shifts play an important role when a PM task is added, but do not fully explain the cost effect on reaction time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology--Science or What?

In a recent survey (American Journal of Pychology, June, 1956) of the number of articles in different languages recorded in "Psychological Abstracts" over the ten-year period of 1946-1955, the writer was impressed with the number of articles of American origin which had their origin in U. S. Government-sponsored agencies. Hence an actual count was made for the 1955 volume of Psychological Abstracts, carefully counting only those items whose authors were identified as in Government place of origin. Much of this material has great practical application and is valuable for that reason alone. Certainly most of the material has little value in advancing psychology as a science. And if psychology is to hold its place among the sciences, there should be a steady development of fundamental concepts which can be proven experimentally and from which can flow, perhaps even more readily, the important and necessary practical applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What are affects?

In an attempt to answer the question, "what is affect?", this paper considers Freud's metapsychological formulation in the light of recent developments in psychoanalysis and neuroscience. It argues that the problem of affect-perhaps more than any other-forces us to acknowledge the intrinsic connexion between mind and body, and to accommodate it in our theoretical formulations. A review of the problem from this point of view leads to the following formulation: affect is a primary sensory modality, analogous to the senses of vision, hearing, somatic sensation, taste, and smell. These modalities are the elementary constituents of the envelope of consciousness, from which it is impossible to free ourselves. Whereas the sensory modalities of vision, hearing, somatic sensation, taste, and smell represent aspects of the external object world ("unknowable" in itself), affect is the primary sensory modality through which we perceive as aspect of the internal world of the subject ("unconscious" in itself).     

What price intelligence?

One study "investigated the effects of prolonged labor with instrumentation, precipitate labor, and normal spontaneous delivery upon the later development of the child… . There were 120 children examined with 40 in each of the three groups. Each group consisted of 20 males and 20 females and each of these subgroups had 10 colored and 10 white children." It was "found that precipitate labor can produce the most deleterious effects on later development as far as the intelligence is considered as measured by the Stanford-Binet… . In another study… the effects of severe and prolonged anoxia at or immediately following birth was investigated… . The results appear to indicate that the superior children come from those groups studied who also showed the greater incidence of feeblemindedness." The meaning of the results "is difficult to rationalize." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychology of making ethical decisions: What affects the decision?

Individuals engage in an ethical decision-making process to solve ethical dilemmas. This empirical study of Navy chaplains explored the process of ethical decision making and the extent to which the characteristics of the moral situation influence the decision-making process. The results of the study are visually displayed in a model that pictures the steps in ethical decision making, which could be used as a teaching and training tool for professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What are the shapes of response time distributions in visual search?

Many visual search experiments measure response time (RT) as their primary dependent variable. Analyses typically focus on mean (or median) RT. However, given enough data, the RT distribution can be a rich source of information. For this paper, we collected about 500 trials per cell per observer for both target-present and target-absent displays in each of three classic search tasks: feature search, with the target defined by color; conjunction search, with the target defined by both color and orientation; and spatial configuration search for a 2 among distractor 5s. This large data set allows us to characterize the RT distributions in detail. We present the raw RT distributions and fit several psychologically motivated functions (ex-Gaussian, ex-Wald, Gamma, and Weibull) to the data. We analyze and interpret parameter trends from these four functions within the context of theories of visual search. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is coded into memory in the absence of outcome feedback?

Although people often have to learn from environments with scarce and highly selective outcome feedback, the question of how nonfeedback trials are represented in memory and affect later performance has received little attention in models of learning and decision making. In this article, the authors use the generalized context model (Nosofsky, 1986) as a vehicle to test contrasting hypotheses about the coding of nonfeedback trials. Data across 3 experiments with selective decision-contingent and selective outcome-contingent feedback provide support for the hypothesis of constructivist coding (Elwin, Juslin, Olsson, & Enkvist, 2007), according to which the outcomes on nonfeedback trials are coded with the most likely outcome, as inferred by the individual. The relation to sampling-based approaches to judgment, and the adaptive significance of constructivist coding, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)