Task construction and persistence as means for self-assessment of abilities.

In Exp I, 80 18–22 yr old Israelis performed 2 tasks and received feedback designed to manipulate independently the uncertainty regarding their standing on 2 abilities. Ss were then allowed to construct new tasks by determining the number of items from these ability domains. As predicted, the number of items chosen from each ability domain was directly related to Ss' uncertainty in that ability, so that the self-constructed tasks were predominantly composed of problems assessing the ability of which Ss were least certain. In Exp II, 80 17–28 yr olds worked as much as they wished on a task varying in diagnostic value and received either success or failure trial-by-trial feedback. It was expected that persistence would decrease with task diagnosticity. Results support this prediction and demonstrate that Ss were equally persistent when succeeding and failing. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Pros and Cons of Temporally Near and Distant Action.

The present research demonstrated that in considering an action, considerations against (con) the action tend to be subordinate to considerations in favor of (pro) the action in that cons are considered only if the level of pros is sufficient, whereas pros are considered independent of the level of cons (Studies 1A and IB). The authors therefore concluded that pros constitute a higher construal level than cons and predict, on the basis of temporal construal processes (Y. Trope & N. Liberman. 2003). that pros would be more salient in making decisions for the more distant future, whereas the reverse should hold for cons. As predicted, participants generated more pros and fewer cons toward new exam procedures (Study 2), public policies (Study 3), and personal and interpersonal behaviors (Studies 4-6) that were expected to take place in the more distant future. This research also examined the limiting conditions and the evaluative consequences of these shifts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferences of personal characteristics on the basis of information retrieved from one's memory.

Conducted 4 experiments with a total of 331 undergraduates to investigate inferences about another person's attributes (e.g., his or her political attitudes) on the basis of information (e.g., the person's voting behavior) retrieved by Ss from their own memory. The inference task required integration of 2 kinds of uncertainty: uncertainty generated by imperfect diagnosticity of the information regarding the attributes under consideration. Results show that Ss relied almost exclusively on the diagnosticity of the information retrieved. The reliability with which the information was retrieved had a small and inconsistent effect on judgment. As a result, the inferences were considerably more extreme than those justified by normative considerations. Findings are interpreted in terms of D. Kahneman and A. Tversky's (see record 1974-02325-001) "representativeness heuristic," and implications of the results with regard to overconfidence in attributing personality traits are discussed. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

You focus on the forest when you're in charge of the trees: Power priming and abstract information processing.

Elevated power increases the psychological distance one feels from others, and this distance, according to construal level theory (Y. Trope & N. Liberman, 2003), should lead to more abstract information processing. Thus, high power should be associated with more abstract thinking-focusing on primary aspects of stimuli and detecting patterns and structure to extract the gist, as well as categorizing stimuli at a higher level-relative to low power. In 6 experiments involving both conceptual and perceptual tasks, priming high power led to more abstract processing than did priming low power, even when this led to worse performance. Experiment 7 revealed that in line with past neuropsychological research on abstract thinking, priming high power also led to greater relative right-hemispheric activation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal construal and time-dependent changes in preference.

Five studies tested the predictions of temporal construal theory and time-discounting theories regarding evaluation of near future and distant future options (outcomes, activities, products). The options had abstract or goal-relevant features (called high-level construal features) as well as more concrete or goal-irrelevant features (called low-level construal features). The studies varied the valence (positive vs. negative) and the type of valence (affective vs. cognitive) of the low-level and high-level construal features. The results show that the weight of high-level construal features, compared with the weight of low-level construal features, is greater in determining distant future preferences than near future preferences. The implications of the results for extant theories of time-dependent changes in preference are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on Postharvest Storage Quality in Green Bell Pepper Fruit

The goal of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on maintaining the quality parameters and antioxidant activity of bell pepper cv. Selika (an original red cultivar) and cv. H1530 (??ever-green?? line) after 18?days storage at 7°C and 3?days at 20°C. Fruits were harvested at green color, from a commercial shade net house in the desert region in Israel. In both cultivars, 600?nL?L^?1 1-MCP reduced weight loss and maintained firmness more than control or 900?nL?L^?1 1-MCP. Overall, 1-MCP treatment had a pronounced effect on delaying ripening processes as shown by inhibiting color changes, decreasing decay, and maintaining quality of non-climacteric green pepper fruit. 1-MCP treatment reduced the lipophilic antioxidant activity of this fruit, but the hydrophilic antioxidant activity remained similar to that observed at harvest.     

Analysing potential cliff erosivity from ERS SAR satellite imagery

This paper demonstrates a method to elucidate potential erosivity (PE) of cliff strata that fall within the radar shadow of European Remote Sensing (ERS) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. ERS-1 imagery of cliff faces in Israel's Negev Desert that faced 'away' from the satellite look direction contained alternating grey/black stripes that corresponded to the sedimentological units that make up the cliffs. High return values or digital numbers (DN) relate to gently sloping surfaces with softer lithologies that yield higher rates of weathering. Conversely, lower return values (DN) represent steeper surfaces with harder lithologies that yield a slower rate of weathering. Backscatter and Z-score values were extracted from the image to derive an index of PE for strata at the feature and sub-feature level. This method may be used to determine relative erosivity of cliff strata, compliment existing geological mapping techniques and refine topographical representation of cliff faces in existing digital elevation models (DEMs).     

Feelings don't come easy: Studies on the effortful nature of feelings.

We propose that experience of emotion is a mental phenomenon, which requires resources. This hypothesis implies that a concurrent cognitive load diminishes the intensity of feeling since the 2 activities are competing for the same resources. Two sets of experiments tested this hypothesis. The first line of experiments (Experiments 1–4) examined the intensity of participants' feelings as they performed a secondary (backward counting) task. The results showed that the intensity of both negative and positive feelings diminished under a cognitive load and that this attenuation of feeling was not mediated by either distraction from external stimuli or demand characteristics. In the second set of experiments (Experiments 5–6), load was created by asking the participants to focus on the feelings. Even in these circumstances, the participants who were under load reported a lower intensity of feeling than those who were not under load. We explain these findings in terms of a resource-dependent model of emotional experience. Possible implications of our findings for a broader class of phenomenological experiences are succinctly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mastery and inoculation against setbacks as active ingredients in the JOBS intervention for the unemployed.

Earlier analyses of the JOBS II intervention for unemployed job seekers demonstrated that the intervention facilitated reemployment, reduced depressive symptoms, and improved role and emotional functioning (A. D. Vinokur, R. H. Price, & Y. Schul, 1995). The present study focuses on mediational processes of the active ingredients targeted by the intervention. Structural equation modeling analysis demonstrated that an enhanced sense of mastery had mediating effects on reemployment, financial strain, and reduction in depressive symptoms. Another active ingredient, inoculation against setbacks, was shown to protect those who suffered the setback of losing a job after temporarily regaining one. The inoculation protected them from experiencing the high level of depressive symptoms that was typical of their counterparts in the control group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parameter replacement for CELP coded speech in land mobile radio

The contribution of this paper is in applying parameter replacement techniques to speech that is compressed by the Federal Standard 1016 CELP speech coder, protected by Reed–Solomon codes, and transmitted over a wireless channel. The parameter replacement results in significant improvement in speech quality without any increase in bit rate. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.