Showing papers in "Psychological Review in 1981"

Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing.

Abstract: Gender schema theory proposes that the phenomenon of sex typing derives, in part, from gender-based schematic processing, from a generalized readiness to process information on the basis of the sex-linked associations that constitute the gender schema. In particular, the theory proposes that sex typing results from the fact that the self-concept itself gets assimilated to the gender schema. Several studies are described which demonstrate that sex-typed individuals do, in fact, have a greater readiness to process information—including information about the self—in terms of the gender schema. It is speculated that such gender-based schematic processing derives, in part, from the society's ubiquitous insistence on the functional importance of the gender dichotomy. The political implications of gender schema theory are discussed, as is the relationship of the theory to the concept of androgyny. The distinction between male and female serves as a basic organizing principle for every human culture. Although societies differ in the specific tasks they assign to the two sexes, all societies allocate adult roles on the basis of sex and anticipate this allocation in the socialization of their children. Not only are boys and girls expected to acquire sex-specific skills, they are also expected to have or to acquire sex-specific self

Categorization of action slips.

Abstract: A slip is the error that occurs when a person does an action that is not intended. In this article I examine several collections of slips, primarily of actions, with the aim of devising a theoretical explication. A theory of action is outlined in which an action sequence is represented by a parent schema and numerous child schemas, in which several action schemas can be active at any one time, and in which each schema has a set of triggering conditions and an activation value. The path from intention to action consists of the activation of the parent schema that corresponds to the intention, the activation of child schemas for the component parts of the action sequence, and then the appropriate triggering of schemas when the conditions match those required for their operations. This action system allows slips to be organized into three major categories and a number of subcategories. The three major categories of slips are: (a) errors in the formation of the intention (which includes the subcategories of mode and description errors); (b) faulty activation of schemas (which includes the subcategories of capture errors, data-driven and associative activations, loss of intention, and misordering of action components); and (c) faulty triggering (which includes the subcategories of spoonerisms, blends, intrusions of thoughts, and premature triggering).

Search of associative memory.

Abstract: Describes search of associative memory (SAM), a general theory of retrieval from long-term memory that combines features of associative network models and random search models. It posits cue-dependent probabilistic sampling and recovery from an associative network, but the network is specified as a retrieval structure rather than a storage structure. A quantitative computer simulation of SAM was developed and applied to the part-list cuing paradigm. When free recall of a list of words was cued by a random subset of words from that list, the probability of recalling one of the remaining words was less than if no cues were provided at all. SAM predicted this effect in all its variations by making extensive use of interword associations in retrieval, a process that previous theorizing has dismissed. (55 ref)

Toward a modern theory of adaptive networks: Expectation and prediction.

Abstract: Many adaptive neural network theories are based on neuronlike adaptive elements that can behave as single unit analogs of associative conditioning. In this article we develop a similar adaptive element, but one which is more closely in accord with the facts of animal learning theory than elements commonly studied in adaptive network research. We suggest that an essential feature of classical conditioning that has been largely overlooked by adaptive network theorists is its predictive nature. The adaptive element we present learns to increase its response rate in anticipation of increased stimulation, producing a conditioned response before the occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus. The element also is in strong agreement with the behavioral data regarding the effects of stimulus context, since it is a temporally refined extension of the Rescorla-Wagner model. We show by computer simulation that the element becomes sensitive to the most reliable, nonredundant, and earliest predictors of reinforcement . We also point out that the model solves many of the stability and saturation problems encountered in network simulations. Finally, we discuss our model in light of recent advances in the physiology and biochemistry of synaptic mechanisms.

The imagery debate: Analogue media versus tacit knowledge.

Abstract: The debate over the nature of mental imagery, especially with respect to the interpretation of recent findings on the transformation of images.” has failed to focus on the crucial differences between the so-called “analogue” and “propositional” approaches. In this paper I attempt to clarify the disagreements by focusing on the alleged spatial nature of images and on recent findings concerned with “rotation” and “scanning” of mental images. It is argued that the main point of disagreement concerns whether certain aspects of the way in which images are transformed should be attributed to intrinsic knowledge-independent properties of the medium in which images are instantiated or the mechanisms by which they are processed, or whether images are typically transformed in certain ways because subjects take their task to be the simulation of the act of witnessing certain real events taking place and therefore use their tacit knowledge of the imaged situation to cause the transformation to proceed as they believe it would have proceeded in reality. The fundamental difference between these t o modes of processing is examined, and certain general difficulties inherent in the analogue account are discussed. It is argued that the tacit knowledge a count is more plausible, at least in the cases examined, because it is a more general account and also because certain empirical results demonstrate that both “mental scanning” and “mental rotation” transformations can be critically influenced by varying the instructions given to subjects and the precise form of the task used and that the form of the influence is explainable in terms of the semantic content of subjects' beliefs and goals—that is, that these operations are cognitively penetrable by subjects' beliefs and goals. Functions that are cognitively penetrable in this sense, it is argued, must be explained, at least in part, by reference to computational cognitive processes whose behavior is governed by goals, beliefs, and tacit knowledge rather than by properties of analogue mechanism.

The Social Impact of Majorities and Minorities.

Abstract: Previous theorizing about social influence processes has led to the emergence of two research traditions, each focusing on only a subset of influence situations. Research on conformity looks at the influence of the majority on a passive minority, whereas research on innovation considers the influence of active minorities on a silent majority. In the present article, we review these two lines of research, as well as some recent evidence, from the perspective of a new theory of social impact. This theory views social influence as resulting from forces operating in a social force field and proposes that influence by either a majority or a minority will be a multiplicative function of the strength, immediacy, and number of its members. Social impact theory offers a general model of social influence processes that integrates previous theoretical formulations and empirical findings and accounts for the reciprocal influence of majorities and minorities. By viewing social influence as a unitary concept, social impact theory permits comparisons between conformity and innovation and predicts the relative magnitude of their effects.

A portrait of the substrate for self-stimulation.

Abstract: Quantitative properties of the neural system mediating the rewarding and priming effects of medial forebrain bundle (MFB) stimulation in the rat have been determined by experiments that trade one parameter of the electrical stimulus against another. The first-order neurons in this substrate are for the most part long, thin, myelinated axons, coursing in the MFB and ventral tegmentum, with absolute refractory periods in the range .5-1.2 msec and conduction velocities of 2-8 m/sec. Local potentials in these axons decay with a time constant of about .1 msec. A supernormal period follows the recovery from refractoriness. These axons integrate current over exceptionally long intervals, accommodate slowly, and fire on the break of prolonged anodal pulses. These properties rule out the hypothesis that catecholamine pathways constitute the first-order axons. The second-order (postsynaptic) part of the substrate shows surprisingly simple spatial and temporal integrating characteristics. We examine the logic that permits conclusions of this sort to be derived from behavioral data and the role of these derivations in establishing neurobehavioral linkage hypotheses. In this article we describe properties of the neural tissue whose excitation eventuates in the reinforcing and motivating effects of electrical stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) in the rat. The goal of the research is to identify these systems by anatomical and electrophysiological methods, thus providing physiological psychology with a model for studying the neurophysiological bases of learning and motivation in a higher vertebrate. The properties of the substrate for selfstimulation described in this article have been inferred from behavioral trade-off experiments—experiments that determine the The authors are listed in alphabetical order. They gratefully acknowledge the following grant support: National Science Foundation Grant BMS-16339 to C. Gallistel; National Institute of Health Grant NS-14935 to C. Gallistel, P. Hand, & M. Reivich; National Institute of Health Training Grant MH15092 (A. Epstein & C. Gallistel, codirectors); Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Grant A0308 and Quebec Formation des Chercheurs et les Actions Concert6es (FCAC) Grant EQ-09 to P. Shizgal; and NSERC of Canada Grant A7077 to J. Yeomans. Requests for reprints should be sent to C. R. Gallistel,

The Internal Representation of Pitch Sequences in Tonal Music

Abstract: A model for the internal representation of pitch sequences in tonal music is advanced. This model assumes that pitch sequences are retained as hierarchical networks. At each level of the hierarchy, elements are organized as structural units in accordance with laws of figural goodness, such as proximity and good continuation. Further, elements that are present at each hierarchical level are elaborated by further elements so as to form structural units at the next-lower level, until the lowest level is reached. Processing advantages of the system are discussed. It may generally be stated that we tend to encode and retain information in the form of hierarchies when given the opportunity to do so. For example, programs of behavior tend to be retained as hierarchies (Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960) and goals in problem solving as hierarchies of subgoals (Ernst & Newell, 1969). Visual scenes appear to be encoded as hierarchies of subscenes (Hanson & Riseman, 1978; Navon, 1977; Palmer, 1977; Winston, 1973). The phrase structure of a sentence lends itself readily to hierarchical interpretations (Chomsky, 1963; Miller & Chomsky, 1963; Yngve, 1960). When presented with artificial serial patterns that may be hierarchically encoded, we readily form encodings that reflect pattern structure (Bjork, 1968;

A theory of order relations in perceptual matching.

Abstract: A theory of order relations in the perceptual matching task relates order manipulations to research on retrieval processes and the representation of order information in memory. In experimental tests of the theory, presentation of a study string of letters to the subject was followed by a test string to which the subject responded same or different. The data of main interest concern the case where the test string is a permutation of the study string. When adjacent letters are switched, reaction time is long and accuracy low, suggesting that, in the comparison process, a test letter is not simply compared to the letter in the same position in the study string; rather, the comparison is distributed across positions. The memory model assumes that the representation of a letter is distributed (spread) over position and that the comparison process assesses the amount of overlap between the test string and the memory representation. The amount of overlap is transformed by a power function into the drift rate in a diffusion (random walk) comparison process. The diffusion retrieval model and overlap memory model are fitted to the data and goodness-of-fit is assessed. Shortcomings of alternative models are considered and applications of the model to related matching tasks are described.

Time, distance, and feature trade-offs in visual apparent motion.

Abstract: A model of visual apparent motion is derived from four observations on path selection in ambiguous displays in which apparent motion of illuminated dots could, in principle, be perceived along many possible paths: (a) Whereas motion over each path is clearly visible when its stimulus is presented in isolation, motion is usually seen over only one path when two or more such stimuli are combined (competition), (b) Path selection is nearly independent of viewing distance (scale invariance). (c) At transition points between paths (' and j (where apparent motion is equally likely to be perceived along / and j), the time t and distance d between successive points along the paths are described by a log linear d/t relationship; that is, t = A - B log (d/d,). (d) When successive elements along a path differ in orientation or size, the perceived motion along this path is not necessarily weaker than motion along a path composed entirely of identical elements. The model is a form of strength theory in which the path with greatest strength 5 becomes the dominant path. From scale invariance, we prove that the contributions of time and distance to stimulus strength are independent. From the log linear d/t relationship, we derive the precise trade-off function between d and / and show the existence of an optimal interstimulus interval to maximize the strength for any path. The model accounts well for the path-selection data and suggests a neural interpretation in which motion perception is based on the outputs of elementary detectors that are scaled replicas of each other, all having the same geometry and time delays, and differing only in size and orientation. A visual stimulus, such as a bar or a disk, which is flashed first at one position and then flashed again nearby, may evoke a powerful illusion of movement, provided the spacing and timing of the two flashes is chosen appropriately. The vividness of this apparent motion depends strongly on the spatial and temporal separation of the stimuli and only weakly on the figural similarity of one stimulus to the other (see Kolers, 1972, for a review). However, efforts by Korte (1915), Neuhaus (1930), and others to discover a

Does activation really spread

Abstract: In this article we consider three versions of the spreading activation model for retrieval of information from memory. Predictions are derived for activation spreading down a linear network structure as a function of time. To test these predictions, two experiments were performed in which facilitation as a function of time was measured for target words in a linearly structured paragraph. A target word was primed either by a word near to the target in the paragraph structure or by a word far from the target. Results showed that facilitation begins at about the same time for the far and near conditions. This is inconsistent with the predictions derived from the models. Implications of these results are discussed and alternative conceptions of the activation process are described. In this article we discuss the theoretical and empirical status of the spreading activation process. It is important to investigate this process, because it forms the central mechanism of two current models of memory—a model proposed by Anderson (1976) in the areas of memory, language, and thought, and a model proposed by Collins and Loftus (1975) in the area of semantic memory—and because it is becoming accepted as a mechanism for processes involved in text comprehension (Kieras, 1981; Miller, 1981). Spreading activation has also formed the basis of models in artificial intelligence (Fahlman, 1981; Hinton, 1981; Quillian, 1967), problem solving (Levin, 1976), language understanding (McDonald & Hayes-Roth, 1978), word recognition (McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981), and word production (Dell, 1980; Dell & Reich, 1977). Although we are concerned in this article with spreading activation as a process of retrieving information from memory, and therefore are most directly concerned with the models of Anderson and Collins and Loftus, the discussion presented here should also have implications for the other areas of research.

Personality: Nomothetic or idiographic? A response to Kenrick and Stringfield

Abstract: It is suggested, contrary to the interpretation presented by Kenrick and Stringfield, that substantial consistency can be observed in personality as reflected in both behavior and judges' ratings when the principle of aggregation is applied to traditional nomothetic assessment procedures and results are interpreted in terms of classical reliability theory. Moreover, it is demonstrated that conclusions by Kenrick and Stringfield about the supposed improvement in predictive power stemming from an idiographic analysis do not follow from their data because they confound trait consistency and trait extremity and fail to take account of restriction and inflation of range effects.