Showing papers in "Psychological Review in 1998"

The phonological loop as a language learning device.

Abstract: A relatively simple model of the phonological loop (A. D. Baddeley, 1986), a component of working memory, has proved capable of accommodating a great deal of experimental evidence from normal adult participants, children, and neuropsychological patients. Until recently, however, the role of this subsystem in everyday cognitive activities was unclear. In this article the authors review studies of word learning by normal adults and children, neuropsychological patients, and special developmental populations, which provide evidence that the phonological loop plays a crucial role in learning the novel phonological forms of new words. The authors propose that the primary purpose for which the phonological loop evolved is to store unfamiliar sound patterns while more permanent memory records are being constructed. Its use in retaining sequences of familiar words is, it is argued,

Echoes of echoes? An episodic theory of lexical access.

Abstract: In this article the author proposes an episodic theory of spoken word representation, perception, and production. By most theories, idiosyncratic aspects of speech (voice details, ambient noise, etc.) are considered noise and are filtered in perception. However, episodic theories suggest that perceptual details are stored in memory and are integral to later perception. In this research the author tested an episodic model (MINERVA 2; D. L. Hintzman, 1986) against speech production data from a word-shadowing task. The model predicted the shadowing-response-time patterns, and it correctly predicted a tendency for shadowers to spontaneously imitate the acoustic patterns of words and nonwords. It also correctly predicted imitation strength as a function of "abstract" stimulus properties, such as word frequency. Taken together, the data and theory suggest that detailed episodes constitute the basic substrate of the mental lexicon. Early in the 20th century, Semon (1909/1923) described a memory theory that anticipated many aspects of contemporary theories (Schacter, Eich, & Tulving, 1978). In modem parlance, this was an episodic (or exemplar) theory, which assumes that every experience, such as perceiving a spoken word, leaves a unique memory trace. On presentation of a new word, all stored traces are activated, each according to its similarity to the stimulus. The most activated traces connect the new word to stored knowledge, the essence of recognition. The multiple-trace assumption allowed Semon's theory to explain the apparent permanence of specific memories; the challenge was also to create

What is "special" about face perception?

Abstract: There is growing evidence that face recognition is "special" but less certainty concerning the way in which it is special. The authors review and compare previous proposals and their own more recent hypothesis, that faces are recognized "holistically" (i.e., using relatively less part decomposition than other types of objects). This hypothesis, which can account for a variety of data from experiments on face memory, was tested with 4 new experiments on face perception. A selective attention paradigm and a masking paradigm were used to compare the perception of faces with the perception of inverted faces, words, and houses. Evidence was found of relatively less part-based shape representation for faces. The literatures on machine vision and single unit recording in monkey temporal cortex are also reviewed for converging evidence on face representation. The neuropsychological literature is reviewed for-evidence on the question of whether face representation differs in degree or kind from the representation of other types of objects.

Cytokines for psychologists: implications of bidirectional immune-to-brain communication for understanding behavior, mood, and cognition.

Abstract: The brain and immune system form a bidirectional communication network in which the immune system operates as a diffuse sense organ, informing the brain about events in the body. This allows the activation of immune cells to produce physiological, behavioral, affective, and cognitive changes that are collectively called sickness, which function to promote recuperation. Fight-flight evolved later and coopted this immune-brain circuitry both because many of the needs of fight-flight were met by this circuitry and this cooptation allowed the immune system to respond to potential injury in anticipatory fashion. Many sequelae of exposure to stressors can be understood from this view and can take on the role of adaptive responses rather than pathological manifestations. Finally, it is argued that activation of immune-brain pathways is important for understanding diverse phenomena related to stress such as depression and suppression of specific immunity.

A neuropsychological theory of multiple systems in category learning

Abstract: A neuropsychological theory is proposed that assumes category learning is a competition between separate verbal and implicit (i.e., procedural-learning-based) categorization systems. The theory assumes that the caudate nucleus is an important component of the implicit system and that the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortices are critical to the verbal system. In addition to making predictions for normal human adults, the theory makes specific predictions for children, elderly people, and patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, major depression, amnesia, or lesions of the prefrontal cortex. Two separate formal descriptions of the theory are also provided. One describes trial-by-trial learning, and the other describes global dynamics. The theory is tested on published neuropsychological data and on category learning data with normal adults.

Toward a model of eye movement control in reading.

Abstract: The authors present several versions of a general model, titled the E-Z Reader model, of eye movement control in reading. The major goal of the modeling is to relate cognitive processing (specifically aspects of lexical access) to eye movements in reading. The earliest and simplest versions of the model (E-Z Readers 1 and 2) merely attempt to explain the total time spent on a word before moving forward (the gaze duration) and the probability of fixating a word; later versions (E-Z Readers 3-5) also attempt to explain the durations of individual fixations on individual words and the number of fixations on individual words. The final version (E-Z Reader 5) appears to be psychologically plausible and gives a good account of many phenomena in reading. It is also a good tool for analyzing eye movement data in reading. Limitations of the model and directions for future research are also discussed.

From normal fear to pathological anxiety

Abstract: In this article the authors address how pathological anxiety may develop from adaptive fear states. Fear responses (e.g., freezing, startle, heart rate and blood pressure changes, and increased vigilance) are functionally adaptive behavioral and perceptual responses elicited during danger to facilitate appropriate defensive responses that can reduce danger or injury (e.g., escape and avoidance). Fear is a central motive state of action tendencies subserved by fear circuits, with the amygdala playing a central role. Pathological anxiety is conceptualized as an exaggerated fear state in which hyperexcitability of fear circuits that include the amygdala and extended amygdala (i.e., bed nucleus of the stria terminalis) is expressed as hypervigilance and increased behavioral responsivity to fearful stimuli. Reduced thresholds for activation and hyperexcitability in fear circuits develop through sensitization- or kindling-like processes that involve neuropeptides, hormones, and other proteins. Hyperexcitability in fear circuits is expressed as pathological anxiety that is manifested in the various anxiety disorders.

A Neuropsychological Theory of Motor Skill Learning.

Abstract: This article describes a neuropsychological theory of motor skill learning that is based on the idea that learning grows directly out of motor control processes. Three motor control processes may be tuned to specific tasks, thereby improving performance: selecting spatial targets for movement, sequencing these targets, and transforming them into muscle commands. These processes operate outside of awareness. A 4th, conscious process can improve performance in either of 2 ways: by selecting more effective goals of what should be changed in the environment or by selecting and sequencing spatial targets. The theory accounts for patterns of impairment of motor skill learning in patient populations and for learning-related changes in activity in functional imaging studies. It also makes a number of predictions about the purely cognitive, including accounts of mental practice, the representation of motor skill, and the interaction of conscious and unconscious processes in motor skill learning.

The primacy model : A new model of immediate serial recall

Abstract: A new model of immediate serial recall is presented: the primacy model. The primacy model stores order information by means of the assumption that the strength of activation of successive list items decreases across list position to form a primacy gradient. Ordered recall is supported by a repeated cycle of operations involving a noisy choice of the most active item followed by suppression of the chosen item. Word-length and list-length effects are attributed to a decay process that occurs both during input, when effective rehearsal is prevented, and during output. The phonological similarity effect is attributed to a second stage of processing at which phonological confusions occur. The primacy model produces accurate simulations of the effects of word length, list length, and phonological similarity.

Traits and motives : Toward an integration of two traditions in personality research

Abstract: After reviewing classic and current conceptions of trait (as measured by questionnaires) and motive (as measured by the Thematic Apperception Test [TAT] or other imaginative verbal behavior), the authors suggest that these 2 concepts reflect 2 fundamentally different elements of personality--conceptually distinct and empirically unrelated. The authors propose that traits and motives interact in the prediction of behavior: Traits channel the behavioral expression of motives throughout the life course. The authors illustrate this interactive hypothesis in 2 longitudinal studies, focusing on the broad trait of extraversion and the 2 social motives of affiliation and power. In interaction with extraversion, both motives show predicted and replicated relations to independently measured life outcomes in the domains of relationships and careers. Extraversion facilitates unconflicted motive expression, whereas introversion deflects social motives away from their characteristic goals and creates difficulties in goal attainment.

Normally occurring environmental and behavioral influences on gene activity: From central dogma to probabilistic epigenesis.

Abstract: The central dogma of molecular biology holds that "information" flows from the genes to the structure of the proteins that the genes bring about through the formula DNA-->RNA-->Protein. In this view, a set of master genes activates the DNA necessary to produce the appropriate proteins that the organism needs during development. In contrast to this view, probabilistic epigenesis holds that necessarily there are signals from the internal and external environment that activate DNA to produce the appropriate proteins. To support this view, a substantial body of evidence is reviewed showing that external environmental influences on gene activation are normally occurring events in a large variety of organisms, including humans. This demonstrates how genes and environments work together to produce functional organisms, thus extending the author's model of probabilistic epigenesis.

A connectionist multiple-trace memory model for polysyllabic word reading.

Abstract: A connectionist feedforward network implementing a mapping from orthography to phonology is described. The model develops a view of the reading system that accounts for both irregular word and pseudoword reading without relying on any system of explicit or implicit conversion rules. The model assumes, however, that reading is supported by 2 procedures that work successively: a global procedure using knowledge about entire words and an analytic procedure based on the activation of word syllabic segments. The model provides an account of the basic effects that characterize human skilled reading performance including a frequency by consistency interaction and a position-of-irregularity effect. Furthermore, early in training, the network shows a performance similar to that of less skilled readers. It also offers a plausible account of the patterns of acquired phonological and surface dyslexia when lesioned in different ways.

A theoretical investigation of reference frames for the planning of speech movements.

Abstract: Does the speech motor control system utilize invariant vocal tract shape targets of any kind when producing phonemes? We present a four-part theoretical treatment favoring models whose only invariant targets are auditory perceptual targets over models that posit invariant constriction targets. When combined with earlier theoretical and experimental results (Guenther, 1995a,b; Perkell et al., 1993; Savariaux et al., 1995a,b), our hypothesis is that, for vowels and semi-vowels at least, the only invariant targets of the speech production process are multidimensional regions in auditory perceptual space. These auditory perceptual target regions are hypothesized to arise during development as an emergent property of neural map formation in the auditory system. Furthermore, speech movements are planned as trajectories in auditory perceptual space. These trajectories are then mapped into articulator movements through a neural mapping that allows motor equivalent variability in constriction locations and degrees when needed, but maintains approximate constriction invariance for a given sound in most instances. These hypotheses are illustrated and substantiated using computer simulations of the DIVA model of speech acquisition and production. Finally, we pose several difficult challenges to proponents of constriction theories based on this theoretical treatment.

Intergroup Relations: Insights From a Theoretically Integrative Approach

Abstract: In social psychology, specific research traditions, which often spring up in response to external events or social problems, tend to perpetuate the theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches with which they began. As a result, theories and methods that have proven powerful in 1 topic area are often not applied in other areas, even to conceptually similar issues. The authors adopt a theoretically integrative approach to the topic of intergroup relations. Theories and empirical approaches from the domains of attitudes, impression formation, the self, personal relationships, and norms offer many new insights into problematic issues, such as repeated findings of dissociations among stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. This integrative approach not only promises new theoretical advances, but also suggests numerous potential practical approaches to limiting or reducing destructive patterns of intergroup relations.

Familiarity breeds differentiation: A subjective-likelihood approach to the effects of experience in recognition memory

Abstract: With repeated exposure, people become better at identifying presented items and better at rejecting items that have not been presented. This differentiation effect is captured in a model consisting of item detectors that learn estimates of conditional probabilities of item features. The model is used to account for a number of findings in the recognition memory literature, including (a) the basic differentiation effect (strength-mirror effect), (b) the fact that adding items to a list reduces recognition accuracy (list-length effect) but extra study of some items does not reduce recognition accuracy for other items (null list-strength effect), (c) nonlinear effects of strengthening items on false recognition of similar distractors, (d) a number of different kinds of mirror effects, (e) appropriate z-ROC curves, and (f) one type of deviation from optimality exhibited in recognition experiments.

Selective attention: a reevaluation of the implications of negative priming.

Abstract: The notion that inhibitory processes play a critical role in selective attention has gained wide support. Much of this support derives from studies of negative priming. The authors note that the attribution of negative priming to an inhibitory mechanism of attention draws its support from a common assumption underlying priming procedures, together with the procedure that has been used to measure negative priming. The results from a series of experiments demonstrate that selection between 2 competing prime items is not required to observe negative priming. This result is demonstrated across several experiments in which participants named 1 of 2 items in a second display following presentation of a single-item prime. The implications of these results for existing theories of negative priming are discussed, and a theoretical framework for interpreting negative priming and several related phenomena is forwarded.

An ecological theory of expertise effects in memory recall.

Abstract: Previous research has shown a significant correlation between domain expertise and memory recall performance after a very brief exposure time. Despite the large number of such studies, several findings in the literature have no satisfactory theoretical explanation. A novel theory based on an ecological approach is proposed to explain these results. This constraint attunement hypothesis provides a framework for identifying and representing the various levels of goal-relevant constraint in a domain. The theory predicts that there will be a memory expertise advantage in cases in which experts are attuned to the goal-relevant constraints in the material to be recalled and that the more constraint available, the greater the expertise advantage can be. The theory explains a number of diverse empirical findings in the literature in a coherent, unique, and parsimonious fashion and suggests a number of promising issues for future research.

A dynamic systems model of basic developmental mechanisms: Piaget, Vygotsky, and beyond

Abstract: A dynamic systems model is proposed on the basis of a general developmental mechanism adopted from the theories of J. Piaget and L. S. Vygotsky, more particularly a mechanism based on the concepts assimilation versus accommodation and actual development versus zone of proximal development. In the model, action and experience have a distributed effect on contents (skills, knowledge, rules, action patterns, etc.) ordered along an abstract developmental distance dimension. After a mathematical treatment of the model, an overview is given of empirical evidence on continuous and discontinuous change. The dynamic model is then applied to the classic Piagetian and the neo-Piagetian models, models of continuous and discontinuous domain-specific change, and to models of cognitive strategies, transitions, microdevelopment, and inter- and intraindividual variability.

Interpreting the influence of implicitly activated memories on recall and recognition.

Abstract: A model concerning the influence of implicitly activated information on cued recall and recognition is presented. The model assumes that studying a familiar word activates its associates and creates an implicit representation in long-term working memory. Test cues also activate their associates, with memory performance determined by a sampling process that operates on the intersection of information activated by the test cue with information previously activated by the studied word. Successful sampling is enhanced by preexisting connections among the associates of the studied word and by preexisting connections between it and the retrieval cue. However, the usefulness of the implicit representation is reduced by the activation of competing associates and by shifts of attention before testing. Experiments designed to test predictions of the model indicate that the associates of a familiar word can exert a powerful effect on its cued recall and recognition.

Varieties of regret: A debate and partial resolution.

Abstract: Different interpretations of an apparent temporal pattern to the experience of regret were addressed through joint research. T. Gilovich and V. H. Medvec (1995a) argued that people regret actions more in the short term and inactions more in the long run because the sting of regrettable action diminishes relatively quickly, whereas the pain of regrettable inaction lingers longer. D. Kahneman (1995) disagreed, arguing that people's long-term regrets of inaction are largely wistful and therefore not terribly troublesome. Three studies that examined the emotional profile of action and inaction regrets established considerable common ground. Action regrets were found to elicit primarily "hot" emotions (e.g., anger), and inaction regrets were found to elicit both feelings of wistfulness (e.g., nostalgia) and despair (e.g., misery). Thus, some inaction regrets are indeed wistful (as Kahneman argued), whereas others are troublesome (as Gilovich and Medvec maintained).

Heritability and biological explanation.

Abstract: Modern neuroscientific and genetic technologies have provoked intense disagreement between scientists who envision a future in which biogenetic theories will enrich or even replace psychological theories, and others who consider biogenetic theories exaggerated, dehumanizing, and dangerous. Both sides of the debate about the role of genes and brains in the genesis of human behavior have missed an important point: All human behavior that varies among individuals is partially heritable and correlated with measurable aspects of brains, but the very ubiquity of these findings makes them a poor basis for reformulating scientists' conceptions of human behavior. Materialism requires psychological processes to be physically instantiated, but more crucial for psychology is the occasional empirical discovery of behavioral phenomena that are specific manifestations of low-level biological variables. Heritability and psychobiological association cannot be the basis for establishing whether behavior is genetic or biological, because to do so leads only to the banal tautology that all behavior is ultimately based in the genotype and brain.

Occasion Setting: A Neural Network Approach.

Abstract: Classical conditioning data show that a conditioned stimulus (CS) can act either as a simple CS--eliciting conditioned responses (CRs) by signaling the occurrence of an unconditioned stimulus (US)--or as an occasion setter--controlling the responses generated by another CS. In this article, the authors apply a simple extension of a network model of conditioning, originally presented by N. A. Schmajuk and J. J. DiCarlo (S-D; 1992), to the description of these 2 different CS functions. In the model, CS inputs are connected to the CR output both directly and indirectly through a hidden unit layer that codes configural stimuli. In this framework, a CS acts as (a) a simple stimulus through its direct connections with the output units and as (b) an occasion setter through its indirect configural connections via the hidden units. Computer simulations demonstrate that the network accounts for a large part of the data on occasion setting.

Signal detection by human observers: a cutoff reinforcement learning model of categorization decisions under uncertainty.

Abstract: Previous experimental examinations of binary categorization decisions have documented robust behavioral regularities that cannot be predicted by signal detection theory (D. M. Green & J. A. Swets, 1966/1988). The present article reviews the known regularities and demonstrates that they can be accounted for by a minimal modification of signal detection theory: the replacement of the "ideal observer" cutoff placement rule with a cutoff reinforcement learning rule. This modification is derived from a cognitive game theoretic analysis (A. E. Roth & I. Erev, 1995). The modified model reproduces all 19 experimental regularities that have been considered. In all cases, it outperforms the original explanations. Some of these previous explanations are based on important concepts such as conservatism, probability matching, and "the gambler's fallacy" that receive new meanings given the current results. Implications for decision-making research and for applications of traditional signal detection theory are discussed. Many common activities involve binary categorization decisions under uncertainty. While walking on campus, for example, students often try to distinguish between the individuals to whom they should say "hello" and the ones they had better ignore (uncertainty, in this case, arises from the limitations of individuals' memory and perceptual systems). The frequent performance of categorization decisions and the observation that they can have high survival value (as in the case of safety-related decisions) suggest that the cognitive processes that determine th~se decisions should be simple and adaptive. Thus, it could be hypothesized that one basic (simple and adaptive) model can be used to describe these processes within a wide set of situations. The experimental literature provides mixed support for the simplicity and adaptivity hypothesis. The most impressive sup

Psychoacoustic consequences of compression in the peripheral auditory system

Abstract: Input-output functions on the basilar membrane of the cochlea show a strong compressive nonlinearity at midrange levels for frequencies close to the characteristic frequency of a given place This article shows how many different phenomena can be explained as consequences of this nonlinearity, including the "excess" masking produced when 2 nonsimultaneous maskers are combined, the nonlinear growth of forward masking with masker level, the influence of component phase on the effectiveness of complex forward maskers, changes in the ability to detect increments and decrements with level, temporal integration, and the influence of component phase and level on the perception of vowellike sounds Cochlear hearing loss causes basilar-membrane responses to become more linear This can account for loudness recruitment, linear additivity of nonsimultaneous masking, linear growth of forward masking, reduced temporal resolution for sounds with fluctuating envelopes, and reduced temporal integration

A Theory of the Measurement of Knowledge Content, Access, and Learning

Abstract: An approach to the measurement of knowledge content, knowledge access, and knowledge learning is developed. This approach has 2 elements: First, a theoretical view of cognition, called the NewellDennett framework, is described that is particularly favorable to the development of a measurement approach. A class of measurement models, based on Rasch modeling, is described that is particularly favorable to the development of cognitive theories. Knowledge content and access are viewed as determining the observable actions selected by an agent to achieve desired goals in observable situations. To the degree that models within the theory fit the data at hand, one considers measures of observed behavior to be manifestations of intelligent agents having specific classes of knowledge content and varying degrees of access to that knowledge. Although agents, environment, and knowledge are umstitutively defined (in terms of one another), successful application of the theory affords separation of parameters associated with the person from those associated with the environment. Two examples of measurement models developed within the approach are discussed that address the evolution of cognitive skill, strategy choice and application, and developmental changes in mixtures of strategy use. A defining feature of modern-day cognitive psychology is its theoretical admission of mental states and processes. The complexity of observed behavior is assumed to be a manifestation of unobservable mental states and processes interacting with a complex embedding environment. Under a prevalent approach to cognitive psychology, mental states and processes and their resulting behavioral manifestations are shaped by knowledge. For a variety of reasons, one could argue that knowledge ought to be the most scientifically interesting aspect of human psychology. Much, if not most, of the behavioral variability of humans is attributed to knowledge differences arising from different enculturation histories. Everyday folk psychologies are typically couched in terms of knowledge and intention. Efforts aimed at improving education, artifacts, and community life are usually cast in terms of shaping or exploiting knowledge. In this article, we propose a framework and theory for mea

A critique of Bem's "Exotic Becomes Erotic" theory of sexual orientation

Abstract: Two critiques of D. J. Bem's (1996) "Exotic Becomes Erotic" (EBE) theory of sexual orientation are presented. First, the core proposition of EBE theory is considered; that is, the idea that adults are erotically attracted to the gender-based class of peers (males or females) who were dissimilar or unfamiliar to them in childhood. Studies cited by Bem and additional research show that EBE theory is not supported by scientific evidence. Second, Bem's claim that his theory applies equally to both sexes is questioned; instead the argument that it neglects and misrepresents women's experiences is made. Bem's conceptualization of erotic desire and his analysis of gender nonconformity illustrate this problem. It is suggested that different theories may be needed to explain the development of men's and women's sexual orientation.

Modeling memory for absolute location.

Abstract: A model for recall of location is presented that postulates 2 encoding processes: 1 producing exact (all-or-none) recall, the other resulting in inexact recall. Exact recall is modeled as the outcome of a perceptual discrimination process, and inexact recall is modeled as the incomplete outcome of a Poisson process of information gain. The model accurately predicts levels of recall and patterns of errors in a number of experiments and articulates a lawful relationship between recall and elements of picture composition, such as the dimensions of the to-be-recalled attributes and the configuration of anchor points in the picture. This model enables a reappraisal of previous theoretical approaches to memory for location and of related studies concerned with automaticity in memory. The significance of this model as a general analytical device for the study of continuous attributes in memory is discussed.

A Dynamic Route Finder for the Cognitive Map

Abstract: Cognitive behaviorist E. C. Tolman (1932) proposed many years ago that rats and men navigate with the aid of cognitive maps, but his theory was incomplete. Critic E. R. Guthrie (1935) pointed out that Tolman's maps lack a rule for action, a route finder. We show that a dynamic model for stimulus generalization based on an elementary diffusion process can reproduce the qualitative properties of spatial orientation in animals: area-restricted search in the open field, finding shortcuts, barrier learning (the Umweg problem), spatial "insight" in mazes, and radial maze behavior. The model provides a behavioristic reader for Tolman's cognitive map. The cognitive behaviorist Edward Tolman spent much of his career devising clever experiments to show that stimulus-response accounts of rat behavior cannot be correct. Some of his most striking demonstrations involve spatial learning. One such example is shown in Figure 1, which depicts a maze apparatus used in a famous experiment by Tolman and Honzik (1930). The maze has three paths from the Start box to the Goal box. The paths differ in length: Path 1 (heavy vertical line) shorter than Path 2 (intermediate line) shorter than Path 3 (light line). In preliminary training, the rats were allowed to become familiar with all three paths to the Goal box. They also had experience with a block at Point A, which permits access to the Goal only via Paths 2 and 3. In the test condition, the block was moved to Point B--so that only Path 3 is open. The question is, Will the rats choose Path 3 as soon as they encounter the block at B, or will they choose Path 2, which is normally preferred to Path 3--indicating that they do not know Paths 1 and 2 share a common, blocked, segment? Tolman and Honzik's rats behaved intelligently and usually went straight to Path 3 after encountering the block at B. Tolman took this as evidence that the rats knew something about the topography of the maze. They were not just operating on a fixed hierarchy of preferences ( "Path 1 better than Path 2 better than Path 3" ), nor were they responding reflexively to local cues. Tolman considered this behavior to be an example of "insight," although he did not specify exactly what that means. He did say that some kind of cognitive map