Word length and lexical activation: Longer is better.

Many models of spoken word recognition posit the existence of lexical and sublexical representations, with excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms used to affect the activation levels of such representations. Bottom-up evidence provides excitatory input, and inhibition from phonetically similar representations leads to lexical competition. In such a system, long words should produce stronger lexical activation than short words, for 2 reasons: Long words provide more bottom-up evidence than short words, and short words are subject to greater inhibition due to the existence of more similar words. Four experiments provide evidence for this view. In addition, reaction-time-based partitioning of the data shows that long words generate greater activation that is available both earlier and for a longer time than is the case for short words. As a result, lexical influences on phoneme identification are extremely robust for long words but are quite fragile and condition-dependent for short words. Models of word recognition must consider words of all lengths to capture the true dynamics of lexical activation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Note of clarification on Scholten and Sherman (2006): Erratum.

Reports an error in "Tradeoffs and Theory: The Double-Mediation Model" by Marc Scholten and Steven J. Sherman (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2006 May, Vol 135[2], 237-261). This article was inadvertently printed with the incorrect title. The original title was "Tradeoffs and Conflict: The Double-Mediation Model." This title highlights the relation between tradeoffs and conflict as investigated by the authors and accounted for by their model. However, readers are asked to refer to the article by the title with which it was printed to facilitate its retrieval.. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-06642-006.) Most theories of decision making suggest that, when options imply tradeoffs between their attributes, conflict increases as tradeoff size increases, because greater sacrifices are to be incurred in choosing one option instead of another. An alternative view is that conflict decreases as tradeoff size increases, because stronger arguments can be made for any decision. The authors propose a unified model, the double-mediation model, which combines the mediating effects of sacrifice and argumentation. Our model generally predicts an inverse U-shaped relation between tradeoff size and conflict. Results support this prediction. Also, when the decision situation increases the mediating effect of sacrifice relative to that of argumentation, the relation between tradeoff size and conflict changes in an upward direction; conversely, when the decision situation increases the mediating effect of argumentation relative to that of sacrifice, the relation changes in a downward direction. Results support these predictions as well. Commonalities and differences between our model and other formulations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unresolved controversies concerning psychopathy: Implications for clinical and forensic decision making.

At some point in their careers, clinicians who work or consult in forensic and correctional settings will almost certainly encounter individuals who exhibit psychopathic personality features. Because of the widespread use of this disorder to inform legal and clinical decision making, psychologists should be exceedingly familiar with the relevant research literature on this topic before venturing into these settings. This article reviews the empirical bases of several clinically relevant claims and assertions regarding psychopathy and concludes that many areas of research are decidedly more equivocal in their findings than is commonly perceived. Although there is much to be gained by assessing psychopathy in various contexts, clinicians need to be cautious about drawing overzealous and empirically questionable conclusions about an important disorder that also has great potential for abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fast handoff with reducing waste rate approach for wireless resources management in UMTS mobile networks

3G Wideband CDMA systems adopt the Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor code tree as the channelization codes management for achieving high data rate transmission in personal multimedia communications. It assigns a single channelization code for each accepted connection. Nevertheless, it wastes the system capacity when the required rate is not powers of two of the basic rate. One good solution is to assign multiple codes for each accepted connection but it causes two inevitable drawbacks: long handoff delay and new call setup delay due to high complexity of processing with multiple channelization codes, and high cost of using more number of rake combiners. Especially, long handoff delay may result in more call dropping probability and higher Grade of Service, which will degrade significantly the utilization and revenue of the 3G cellular systems. Therefore, we propose herein an adaptive efficient codes determination algorithm based on the Markov Decision Process analysis approach to reduce the waste rate and reassignments significantly while providing fast handoff. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed approach yields several advantages, including the lowest GOS, the least waste rate, and the least number of reassignments. Meanwhile, the optimal number of rake combiners is also analyzed in this paper. This research was supported in part by the National Science Council of Taiwan, ROC, under contract NSC-93-2213-E-324-018.     

信息安全风险评估的模糊多准则决策方法

基于ISO/IEC17799标准建立了一个综合的信息系统风险分析框架,并运用模糊多准则决策(FMCDM)方法计算信息安全风险,根据风险等级矩阵(RLM)对信息资产风险进行级别划分,最终建立评估信息资产相关风险的完整模型。     

Fifty Years On: Brown v. Board of Education and American Psychology, 1954-2004 An Introduction.

Introduces the current issue of the American Psychologist, which examines the ramifications of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision and its sequelae over the last 50 years, with a special focus on the mixed role of psychological research and practice. Despite the great strides toward a more just society since May 17, 1954, inequities remain in schooling, in social relations, and in economic opportunity. How will history judge American psychology 50 years from now vis-a-vis the possibilities it helped create via Brown? The articles in this special issue suggest several important directions of research and action our field will need to take if the verdict of history is to be a positive one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality Control for Scalable Media Processing Applications

Many media processing applications create a load that varies significantly over time. Hence, if such an application is assigned a lower processing-time budget than needed in its worst-case load situation, deadline misses are likely to occur. This problem can be dealt with by designing media processing applications in a scalable fashion. A scalable media processing application can run in multiple qualities, leading to correspondingly different resource demands. The problem we consider is to find an accompanying quality control strategy, which minimizes both the number of deadline misses and the number of quality changes, while maximizing the quality of processing. We present an initial approach to the above problem by modeling it as a Markov decision process (MDP). Our model is based on measuring relative progress at milestones. Solving the MDP results in a quality control strategy that can be applied during runtime with only little overhead. We evaluate our approach by means of a practical example, which concerns a scalable MPEG-2 decoder.     

Information systems and uncertainty: a conspiracy of misplaced confidence

Abstract. Information technology is becoming an increasingly important factor in contemporary management. Information systems are being set up in business explicitly to accommodate the new opportunities of this technology, and these are having a lasting effect on managerial practice. The full implications of this technology-driven development have not been appreciated by organizations, which in absorbing technological systems, are tolerating a great drain on their resources.
The efficacy of computers is predicated on the acceptance of some very specific perspectives. A growing discontent and disappointment with their limited achievements is our reason for advocating a different point of view. We will discuss how a shift in perspective, particularly in respect to the perception of uncertainty, will affect thinking and practice in the field of management support systems. We will render our view of the application of computerized decision support systems (DSS), and especially, we will focus on the beliefs and assumptions that have shaped this technology thus far. To this end we will discuss the concept of uncertainty, by juxtaposing current thinking and practice with our understanding of the context of its application. Finally, we will place our understanding of uncertainty in a managerial context and explain the implications this would have for strategists.     

"Interactive use of lexical information in speech perception": Correction to Connine and Clifton.

Reports an error in "Interactive use of lexical information in speech perception" by Cynthia M. Connine and Charles Clifton (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1987[May], Vol 13[2], 291-299). In the aforementioned article, Figures 1 and 2 were inadvertently transposed. The figure on p. 294 is actually Figure 2, and the figure on p. 296 is actually Figure 1. The captions are correct as they stand. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1987-23984-001.) Two experiments are reported that demonstrate contextual effects on identification of speech voicing continua. Experiment 1 demonstrated the infuence of lexical knowledge on identification of ambiguous tokens from word–nonword and nonword–word continua. Reaction times for word and nonword responses showed a word advantage only for ambiguous stimulus tokens (at the category boundary); no word advantage was found for clear stimuli (at the continua endpoints). Experiment 2 demonstrated an effect of a postperceptual variable, monetary payoff, on nonword–nonword continua. Identification responses were influenced by monetary payoff, but reaction times for bias-consistent and bias-inconsistent responses did not differ at the category boundary. An advantage for bias-consistent responses was evident at the continua endpoints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)