Showing papers in "Psychological Review in 1975"

A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing

Abstract: This paper presents a spreading-acti vation theory of human semantic processing, which can be applied to a wide range of recent experimental results The theory is based on Quillian's theory of semantic memory search and semantic preparation, or priming In conjunction with this, several of the miscondeptions concerning Qullian's theory are discussed A number of additional assumptions are proposed for his theory in order to apply it to recent experiments The present paper shows how the extended theory can account for results of several production experiments by Loftus, Juola and Atkinson's multiple-category experiment, Conrad's sentence-verification experiments, and several categorization experiments on the effect of semantic relatedness and typicality by Holyoak and Glass, Rips, Shoben, and Smith, and Rosch The paper also provides a critique of the Smith, Shoben, and Rips model for categorization judgments Some years ago, Quillian1 (1962, 1967) proposed a spreading-acti vation theory of human semantic processing that he tried to implement in computer simulations of memory search (Quillian, 1966) and comprehension (Quillian, 1969) The theory viewed memory search as activation spreading from two or more concept nodes in a semantic network until an intersection was found The effects of preparation (or priming) in semantic memory were also explained in terms of spreading activation from the node of the primed concept Rather than a theory to explain data, it was a theory designed to show how to build human semantic structure and processing into a computer

A schema theory of discrete motor skill learning.

Abstract: A number of closed-loop postulations to explain motor skills learning and performance phenomena have appeared recently, but each of these views suffers from either (a) logical problems in explaining the phenomena or (b) predictions that are not supported by the empirical evidence. After these difficulties are discussed, a new theory for discrete motor learning is proposed that seems capable of explaining the existing findings. The theory is based on the notion of the schema and uses a recall memory to produce movement and a recognition memory to evaluate response correctness. Some of the predictions are mentioned, research techniques and paradigms that can be used to test the predictions are listed, and data in support of the theory are presented.

A Theory of Attention: Variations in the Associability of Stimuli with Reinforcement

Abstract: According to theories of selective attention, learning about a stimulus depends on attending to that stimulus; this is represented in two-stage models by saying that subjects switch in analyzers as well as learning stimulusresponse associations This assumption, however, is equally well represented in a formal model by the incorporation of a stimulus-specific learning-rate parameter, a, into the equations describing changes in the associative strength of stimuli Theories of selective attention have also assumed (a) that subjects learn to attend to and ignore relevant and irrelevant stimuli (ie, that a may increase or decrease depending on the correlation of a stimulus with reinforcement) and (b) that there is an inverse relationship between the probabilities of attending to different stimuli (ie, that an increase in a to one stimulus is accompanied by a decrease in a to others) The first assumption is used to explain the phenomena of acquired distinctiveness and dimensional transfer, the second those of overshadowing and blocking Although the first assumption is justified by the data, the second is not: Overshadowing and blocking are better explained by the choice of an appropriate rule for changing a, such that a decreases to stimuli that signal no change from the probability of reinforcement predicted by other stimuli

Arousal, activation, and effort in the control of attention

Abstract: This review attempts to organize a range of neuropsychological and psycho-physiological data On attention. Three separate, but interacting, neural systems are distinguished: One controls arousal, which is defined in terms of phasic physiological responses to input. The arousal control circuits center on the amygdala. A second system controls activation, which is defined in terms of tonic physiological readiness to respond. The readiness circuits center on the basal ganglia of the forebrain. A third system is discerned which coordinates arousal and activation. This coordinating activity is defined as demanding effort. Its cin;uitry centers on the hippocampus. When arousal, activation, and effort are involved in problem solving, at least two further distinctions can be made. During categorizing, arousal precedes activation; during reasoning, activation precedes arousal. Finally, the review addresses the Question of whether effort in problem solving is to be attributed solely to peripheral muscular factors or whether, in fact, direct monitoring of changes in brain organization (changes in set, attitude, etc.) can be productive of measurable indicators of effort. Pribram presented a series of experiments detailing the effects of hippocampal lesions on problem-solving behavior. The results of these experiments were accounted for by recourse to the concept of experiencing a change in awareness which was interpreted as indicating the involvement of \"attention.\" A continuing interest in problems of attention has been reflected not only in the work reported from our laboratory (a dozen and a half papers) but also in that of many others (see reviews by Mostofsky, 1970; Horn and Hinde, 1970; and Kahneman, 1973). Research has largely been directed to two general paradigms defined by the following operations: (a) recording the occurrence of physiological or behavioral responses against a background of monotonous repetition of We wish to express our gratitude to Muriel Bagshaw for additional data analysis and for allowing us to present her unpublished work in this manuscript, and to Linda Heider and Barbara Honegger for their patient help. sensory events (orienting, vigilance, and habituation) and (b) the invariant (categorizing), or the variable but computable (reasoning), pairing of the outcome of response (reinforcement) to sensory events. An assessment of the data derived from these paradigms (in approximately 200 experiments) has led us to identify three basic at-tentional control processes: One regulates arousal resulting from input; a second controls the preparatory activation of response mechanisms; and a third operates to coordinate arousal and activation, an operation that demands effort. …

Consequences of commitment to and disengagement from incentives.

Abstract: Proposes an integrative theoretical framework for studying psychological aspects of incentive relationships. During the time that an incentive is behaviorally salient, an organism is especially responsive to incentive-related cues. This sustained sensitivity requires postulating a continuing state (denoted by a construct, current concern) with a definite onset (commitment) and offset (consummation or disengagement). Disengagement follows frustration, accompanies the behavioral process of extinction, and involves an incentive-disengagement cycle of invigoration, aggression, depression, and recovery. Depression is thus a normal part of disengagement that may be either adaptive or maladaptive for the individual but is probably adaptive for the species. Implications for motivation; etiology, symptomatology, and treatment of depression; drug use; and other social problem areas are discussed. (41/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

Birth Order and Intellectual Development

Abstract: A confluence model is developed that explains the effects of birth order and family size on intelligence. Intellectual development within the family context is conceived of as depending on the cumulative effects of the intellectual environment, which, for the purposes of the model, consist primarily of the siblings’ and parents’ intelligence. Mutual influences, through time, on the intellectual development of the siblings are described by the growth parameter a. The confluence model predicts positive as well as negative effects of birth order, a necessarily negative effect of family size, and a handicap for the last born and the only child. The model explains several features of a large birth order study carried out on nearly 400,000 19-year olds. A number of implications of the model are discussed, among them the effects of age separation between successive children. In agreement with the implications, data on the relatively low IQ of twins and triplets are cited. Extensions of the confluence model to other social processes are discussed. The confluence model is examined for its usefulness in explicating a general class of social-psychological problems: the emergence of individual differences in a social context.

The endogenous-exogenous partition in attribution theory.

Abstract: Within lay explanation of actions, several significant inferences are assumed to follow from the partition between endogenous and exogenous attributions. An action is said to be endogenously attributed when it is judged to constitute an end in itself and exogenously attributed when it is judged to serve as a means to some further end. A theoretical framework is developed whereby the action's endogenous attribution is linked with the inferences of intrinsic motivation, subjective freedom, and the action's underlying intention. The endogenous-exogenous distinction is proposed to replace the frequently invoked partition between the action's internal and external causes. Both conceptual and empirical considerations are put forth in favor of such a replacement. Classical attribution topics to which the internal-external partition has been applied are reinterpreted in terms of the endogenous-exogenous distinction, and novel data are reported that support the latter framework. Finally, several categories of conditions for endogenous (or exogenous) attributions are identified, and possible directions of further research within the endogenous-exogenous framework are suggested.

A comparison and elaboration of two models of metacontrast.

Abstract: Metacontrast has been the subject of two neural network simulations by Weisstein and Bridgeman. We compare and elaborate on the two models, correct flaws not inherent in the models' conceptualizations, and discuss the remaining shortcomings. The idea behind how U-shaped metacontrast functions are generated is similar in both models, but the assumptions about how the visual system is organized are quite different. In one of the models temporal ringing, combined with a complex and implausible linking hypothesis, is necessary in order for masking to be obtained; this model assumes a single spatial and temporal channel. In the other model, masking does not depend on temporal ringing; this model assumes multiple spatial and temporal channels and a simple linking hypothesis. We show that of the two models only the second adequately predicts empirical metacontrast functions, and we relate this model to recent evidence that the visual system contains multiple channels. Sometimes treated as a puzzling and somewhat singular phenomenon, isolated from the \"mainstream\" of visual data and theory, metacontrast may, on the contrary, turn out to be one of the more interesting manifestations of a multiple-channel visual system.

An emotion-attribution approach to moral behavior: interfacing cognitive and avoidance theories of moral development.

Abstract: A theory is presented concerning the impact of attributions about the causes of emotional responses as they influence self-control in temptation situations. Research is reviewed indicating a high level of adult sensitivity to external influence in making such causal attributions. Two studies are presented in which the posttransgression emotions of second-grade children are labeled shame (because of being found out) or guilt (due to the transgression itself); when a similar situation was subsequently represented as safe from detection, shame-condition children transgressed 60-80% more than guilt-condition subjects. It is suggested that emotional arousal elicited in temptation situations because of past punishment or options that are inconsistent with the self-image is necessary for inhibition but not sufficient unless attributed to a relevant cause. The literature on the relative effectiveness of moral socialization techniques is discussed with respect to the theory, and the relevance to cognitive dissonance and to over justification approaches to motivation is discussed An integration of social-learni ng and cognitive-developmental theories is approached through explicating the translation of moral decision into behavior by focusing on the ways that cognition may exert partial control over the impact of less finely differentiated emotional response, allowing cognitive overrides of contradictory emotional dispositions without eliminating the emotion.

Parallel psychometric functions from a set of independent detectors

Abstract: Consider combining several elementary detectors by the extreme decision rule of responding \"no\" only when all elementary detectors respond \"no\" and \"yes\" otherwise. The question raised is: Which psychometric functions for the detectors have the property that the resulting psychometric function is simply the original function displaced in the logarithm of the physical scale? The answer is p(I) = 1 — e~, a, 0 > 0.

Toward a psychological theory of alienation

Abstract: The experience of alienation is conceptualize d as a sequential-dev elopmental process which (a) develops in the context of an ongoing relationship between an individual and another person or group of people; (b) involves an unexpected deterioration in the quality of outcomes provided to the individual by the other(s) ; and (c) persists to the extent that the individual and the other(s) remain spatially or psychologically proximal. On the basis of two variable components, personal-neutral thwarting and saliencenonsalience of alternatives, a typology of estrangement experiences is proposed which includes four behavioral syndromes: isolation, reintegration, subjugation, and rebellion. Though in each of these syndromes the individual's appraisal of the situation leads to at least temporary disillusionment, the induction of persisting cognitive changes as a result of one's exposure to personal thwarting by another is viewed to be the central and unique feature of the alienation experience. Finally, research directions and policy implications of the proposed framework are discussed. Although the term "alienation" has been associated with numerous connotations and used to describe a variety of phenomena, it nonetheless evokes specific images in relation to contemporary American culture. The ghetto riots and student demonstrations of the sixties, the hippie movement, the drug culture, and the recent rash of political kidnappings—all of these phenomena come to mind as manifestation s of alienation; and all seem to involve segments of the population who are, in some sense, "alienated."

A testable property of some discrete-state models for recognition memory.

Abstract: Several current theories of recognition memory combine the notion of a few discrete states of memory with the assumption of continuous distributions of familiarity or apparent oldness. If a test for threshold theories of signal detection proposed by Krantz is applied, it can be shown that the discrete-state memory models imply a lower bound on the a posteriori curve obtained from confidence ratings in yes-no recognition experiments. From this the prediction is derived that new items cannot be perfectly recognized as new unless the forgetting probability is zero. Experimental data are presented that show this prediction to be wrong.