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)     

Review of The mind in context.

Reviews the book, The mind in context edited by Batja Mesquita, et al. (see record 2010-09987-000). The purpose of this edited volume is to challenge a predominant tendency toward an error of essentialism, or the attempt to explain psychological phenomena in terms of internal, static mental entities that are independent of and seemingly hermetically sealed from the outside world. Instead the introductory chapter of The mind in context advances the context principle: that mental processes and behaviour emerge from a profound and complex interaction between person and environment. It is important to note at the outset that a reader seeking an abstracted, sterilized, encyclopaedic list of essential elements making up this perspective would be well advised to look elsewhere. Rather, and in keeping with the theme of the book, the editors have assembled a lively collection of exemplars: chapters by prominent scholars each exploring the influence of context in a focused area of interest. The disadvantage of this approach is that the book can feel somewhat overextended. The significant advantage, however, is that the reader experiences each chapter in the context of the others, a juxtaposition that allows for the emergence of resonances, themes, and common principles across domains. In elaborating on the context principle the contributors to this book emphasise the mind’s mechanisms, situation-sensitivity, and agency over its content, permanence, and passivity. While written in large part by and for social psychologists, the volume should be of interest to any scholar fascinated by the mind’s ecological nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical challenges for psychologists conducting humanitarian work.

This article describes the ethical challenges that psychologists face when doing international humanitarian aid work. It is based on personal experience and uses the framework of the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists to reflect on the unique challenges when doing such work. The article is organized around themes of ethical challenges under the following headings: limitation of resources, local political pressure, local cultural and social realities, challenges to confidentiality, problems in obtaining consent, sequelae of colonial history, individual versus population interests, and tolerance of differences in standards. Examples illustrate these points. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of classroom quality in ameliorating the academic and social risks associated with difficult temperament.

The present study examines the moderating role first grade classroom quality may have on the relations between children's difficult temperament (assessed in infancy) and their academic and social outcomes in early elementary school (first grade). Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, 1032 children were rated by their mothers at 6 months of age on difficult temperament. The quality of first grade classroom environments were then observed and rated along three domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Regression analyses examined the statistical interactions between difficult temperament and classroom quality domains on children's academic and social outcomes. Results indicate high-quality classroom environments may ameliorate the academic and social risks associated with having a difficult temperament. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lack of power enhances visual perceptual discrimination.

Powerless individuals face much challenge and uncertainty. As a consequence, they are highly vigilant and closely scrutinize their social environments. The aim of the present research was to determine whether these qualities enhance performance in more basic cognitive tasks involving simple visual feature discrimination. To test this hypothesis, participants performed a series of perceptual matching and search tasks involving colour, texture, and size discrimination. As predicted, those primed with powerlessness generated shorter reaction times and made fewer eye movements than either powerful or control participants. The results indicate that the heightened vigilance shown by powerless individuals is associated with an advantage in performing simple types of psychophysical discrimination. These findings highlight, for the first time, an underlying competency in perceptual cognition that sets powerless individuals above their powerful counterparts, an advantage that may reflect functional adaptation to the environmental challenge and uncertainty that they face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Formation of semitransparent CuAlSe2 thin films grown on transparent conducting oxide substrates by selenization

Wide band-gap semiconductors have been studied for applications as buffer layers in thin film solar cells and as top cell in tandem devices. CuAlSe₂ (CAS) thin films were deposited onto bare and two different transparent conducting oxide (TCO)-coated glass substrates, In₂O₃:Sn (ITO) and ZnO:Al (AZO), by a two stage process consisting on the selenization of metallic precursor layers. Homogeneous and crystalline formation of CAS thin films is not trivial and it is strongly influenced by selenization conditions, type of substrate and the film thicknesses. Under certain conditions, polycrystalline CuAlSe₂ thin films with chalcopyrite structure and preferential orientation along the (112) plane were obtained onto bare glass susbtrates. However, formation and crystallization of homogeneous CAS thin films was promoted by transparent conducting oxides (ITO and AZO)-coated glass substrates and take place in a wide range of thicknesses and Se amounts with high degree of reproducibility. TCO-coated substrates promoted larger grains when the CAS compound was formed. The band-gap energy, preferential orientation, crystallite size and the average surface roughness varied depending on the film thickness and type of substrate.     

An investigation of Interface-GMRES(R) for fluid–structure interaction problems with flutter and divergence

The basic subiteration method for solving fluid–structure interaction problems consists of an iterative process in which the fluid and structure subsystems are alternatingly solved, subject to complementary partitions of the interface conditions. The main advantages of the subiteration method are its conceptual simplicity and its modularity. The method has several deficiencies, however, including a lack of robustness and efficiency. To bypass these deficiencies while retaining the main advantages of the method, we recently proposed the Interface-GMRES(R) solution method, which is based on the combination of subiteration with a Newton–Krylov approach, in which the Krylov space is restricted to the interface degrees-of-freedom. In the present work, we investigate the properties of the Interface-GMRES(R) method for two distinct fluid–structure interaction problems with parameter-dependent stability behaviour, viz., the beam problem and the string problem. The results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the Interface-GMRES(R) method.