scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers in "Psychological Review in 2003"


Journal ArticleDOI
James A. Russell1
TL;DR: At the heart of emotion, mood, and any other emotionally charged event are states experienced as simply feeling good or bad, energized or enervated, which influence reflexes, perception, cognition, and behavior.
Abstract: At the heart of emotion, mood, and any other emotionally charged event are states experienced as simply feeling good or bad, energized or enervated. These states--called core affect--influence reflexes, perception, cognition, and behavior and are influenced by many causes internal and external, but people have no direct access to these causal connections. Core affect can therefore be experienced as free-floating (mood) or can be attributed to some cause (and thereby begin an emotional episode). These basic processes spawn a broad framework that includes perception of the core-affect-altering properties of stimuli, motives, empathy, emotional meta-experience, and affect versus emotion regulation; it accounts for prototypical emotional episodes, such as fear and anger, as core affect attributed to something plus various nonemotional processes.

4,585 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Predictors from recent theorizing about approach and inhibition are derived and the potential moderators and consequences of these power-related behavioral patterns are discussed.
Abstract: This article examines how power influences behavior. Elevated power is associated with increased rewards and freedom and thereby activates approach-related tendencies. Reduced power is associated with increased threat, punishment, and social constraint and thereby activates inhibition-related tendencies. The authors derive predictions from recent theorizing about approach and inhibition and review relevant evidence. Specifically, power is associated with (a) positive affect, (b) attention to rewards, (c) automatic information processing, and (d) disinhibited behavior. In contrast, reduced power is associated with (a) negative affect; (b) attention to threat, punishment, others’ interests, and those features of the self that are relevant to others’ goals; (c) controlled information processing; and (d) inhibited social behavior. The potential moderators and consequences of these power-related behavioral patterns are discussed.

2,210 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A computational neural-network model is presented of how the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe cortex contribute to recognition memory and the stochastic relationship between recall and familiarity and the effects of partial versus complete hippocampal lesions on recognition.
Abstract: The authors present a computational neural-network model of how the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe cortex (MTLC) contribute to recognition memory. The hippocampal component contributes by recalling studied details. The MTLC component cannot support recall, but one can extract a scalar familiarity signal from MTLC that tracks how well a test item matches studied items. The authors present simulations that establish key differences in the operating characteristics of the hippocampal-recall and MTLC-familiarity signals and identify several manipulations (e.g., target–lure similarity, interference) that differentially affect the 2 signals. They also use the model to address the stochastic relationship between recall and familiarity and the effects of partial versus complete hippocampal lesions on recognition. Memory can be subdivided according to functional categories (e.g., declarative vs. procedural memory; Cohen & Eichenbaum, 1993; Squire, 1992b) and according to neural structures (e.g., hippocampally dependent vs. nonhippocampally dependent forms of memory). Various attempts have been made to align these functional and neural levels of analysis; for example, Squire (1992b) and others have argued that declarative memory depends on the medial temporal lobe whereas procedural memory depends on other cortical and subcortical structures. Recently, we and our colleagues have set forth a computationally explicit theory of how hippocampus and neocortex contribute to learning and memory (the complementary-learning-systems model; McClelland, McNaughton, & O’Reilly, 1995; O’Reilly & Rudy, 2001). In this article, we advance the complementary-learning-systems model by using it to provide a comprehensive treatment of recognitionmemory performance. In this introductory section, we describe two questions that have proved challenging for math-modeling and cognitive-neuroscience approaches to recognition, respectively: In the math-modeling literature, there has been considerable controversy regarding how to characterize the contribution of recall (vs. familiarity) to recognition memory; in the cognitive-neuroscience literature, researchers have debated how the hippocampus (vs. surrounding cortical regions) contributes to recognition. Then, we show how our modeling approach, which is jointly constrained by behavioral and neuroscientific data, can help resolve these controversies.

1,228 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that a consistent interpretation of such models requires a realist ontology for latent variables, and a typology of constructs is proposed on the basis of this analysis.
Abstract: This article examines the theoretical status of latent variables as used in modern test theory models. First, it is argued that a consistent interpretation of such models requires a realist ontology for latent variables. Second, the relation between latent variables and their indicators is discussed. It is maintained that this relation can be interpreted as a causal one but that in measurement models for interindividual differences the relation does not apply to the level of the individual person. To substantiate intraindividual causal conclusions, one must explicitly represent individual level processes in the measurement model. Several research strategies that may be useful in this respect are discussed, and a typology of constructs is proposed on the basis of this analysis. The need to link individual processes to latent variable models for interindividual differences is emphasized.

1,193 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that to understand the variable consequences of comparison, one has to examine what target knowledge is activated during the comparison process, which is conceptualized in a selective accessibility model that distinguishes 2 fundamental comparison processes.
Abstract: This article proposes an informational perspective on comparison consequences in social judgment. It is argued that to understand the variable consequences of comparison, one has to examine what target knowledge is activated during the comparison process. These informational underpinnings are conceptualized in a selective accessibility model that distinguishes 2 fundamental comparison processes. Similarity testing selectively makes accessible knowledge indicating target-standard similarity, whereas dissimilarity testing selectively makes accessible knowledge indicating target-standard dissimilarity. These respective subsets of target knowledge build the basis for subsequent target evaluations, so that similarity testing typically leads to assimilation whereas dissimilarity testing typically leads to contrast. The model is proposed as a unifying conceptual framework that integrates diverse findings on comparison consequences in social judgment.

1,167 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors present a theory of how relational inference and generalization can be accomplished within a cognitive architecture that is psychologically and neurally realistic and demonstrate the sufficiency of the model by using it to simulate a body of empirical phenomena concerning analogical inference and relational generalization.
Abstract: The authors present a theory of how relational inference and generalization can be accomplished within a cognitive architecture that is psychologically and neurally realistic. Their proposal is a form of symbolic connectionism: a connectionist system based on distributed representations of concept meanings, using temporal synchrony to bind fillers and roles into relational structures. The authors present a specific instantiation of their theory in the form of a computer simulation model, Learning and Inference with Schemas and Analogies (LISA). By using a kind of self-supervised learning, LISA can make specific inferences and form new relational generalizations and can hence acquire new schemas by induction from examples. The authors demonstrate the sufficiency of the model by using it to simulate a body of empirical phenomena concerning analogical inference and relational generalization.

491 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A biobehavioral model of love and desire is developed that specifies that the evolved processes underlying sexual desire and affectional bonding are functionally independent; the processes underlying affectionalonding are not intrinsically oriented toward other-gender or same-gender partners; and the biobeHavioral links betweenLove and desire are bidirectional, particularly among women.
Abstract: Although it is typically presumed that heterosexual individuals only fall in love with other-gender partners and gay-lesbian individuals only fall in love with same-gender partners, this is not always so. The author develops a biobehavioral model of love and desire to explain why. The model specifies that (a) the evolved processes underlying sexual desire and affectional bonding are functionally independent; (b) the processes underlying affectional bonding are not intrinsically oriented toward other-gender or same-gender partners: (c) the biobehavioral links between love and desire are bidirectional, particularly among women. These claims are supported by social-psychological, historical, and cross-cultural research on human love and sexuality as well as by evidence regarding the evolved biobehavioral mechanisms underlying mammalian mating and social bonding.

470 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors theorize that 2 neurocognitive sequence-learning systems can be distinguished in serial reaction time experiments, one dorsal (parietal and supplementary motor cortex) and the other ventral (temporal and lateral prefrontal cortex), which are relevant to issues of attentional effects on learning.
Abstract: The authors theorize that 2 neurocognitive sequence-learning systems can be distinguished in serial reaction time experiments, one dorsal (parietal and supplementary motor cortex) and the other ventral (temporal and lateral prefrontal cortex). Dorsal system learning is implicit and associates noncategorized stimuli within dimensional modules. Ventral system learning can be implicit or explicit It also allows associating events across dimensions and therefore is the basis of cross-task integration or interference, depending on degree of cross-task correlation of signals. Accordingly, lack of correlation rather than limited capacity is responsible for dual-task effects on learning. The theory is relevant to issues of attentional effects on learning; the representational basis of complex, sequential skills; hippocampal-versus basal ganglia-based learning; procedural versus declarative memory; and implicit versus explicit memory.

464 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Ardi Roelofs1
TL;DR: This article presents a new account of the color-word Stroop phenomenon based on an implemented model of word production, WEAVER++, and shows that it offers a more satisfactory accounts of the data than other models.
Abstract: This article presents a new account of the color-word Stroop phenomenon (J. R. Stroop, 1935) based on an implemented model of word production, WEAVER++ (W. J. M. Levelt, A. Roelofs, & A. S. Meyer, 1999b; A. Roelofs, 1992, 1997c). Stroop effects are claimed to arise from processing interactions within the language-production architecture and explicit goal-referenced control. WEAVER++ successfully simulates 16 classic data sets, mostly taken from the review by C. M. MacLeod (1991), including incongruency, congruency, reverse-Stroop, response-set, semantic-gradient, time-course, stimulus, spatial, multiple-task, manual, bilingual, training, age, and pathological effects. Three new experiments tested the account against alternative explanations. It is shown that WEAVER++ offers a more satisfactory account of the data than other models.

411 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Three series of simulations examining trade-offs in cooperation and mating decisions illustrate how individual decision mechanisms and group dynamics mutually constrain one another, and offer insights about gene-culture interactions.
Abstract: A new theory integrating evolutionary and dynamical approaches is proposed. Following evolutionary models, psychological mechanisms are conceived as conditional decision rules designed to address fundamental problems confronted by human ancestors, with qualitatively different decision rules serving different problem domains and individual differences in decision rules as a function of adaptive and random variation. Following dynamical models, decision mechanisms within individuals are assumed to unfold in dynamic interplay with decision mechanisms of others in social networks. Decision mechanisms in different domains have different dynamic outcomes and lead to different sociospatial geometries. Three series of simulations examining trade-offs in cooperation and mating decisions illustrate how individual decision mechanisms and group dynamics mutually constrain one another, and offer insights about gene– culture interactions.

361 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors propose a tectonic theory of selective attention in which 2 memory-based structures--dimensional imbalance and dimensional uncertainty--drive selection by processing salient, surprising, and/or correlated information contained within and across stimulus dimensions.
Abstract: The goal of avoiding distraction (e.g., ignoring words when naming their print colors in a Stroop task) is opposed intrinsically by the penchant to process conspicuous and correlated characteristics of the environment (e.g., noticing trial-to-trial associations between the colors and the words). To reconcile these opposing forces, the authors propose a tectonic theory of selective attention in which 2 memorybased structures— dimensional imbalance and dimensional uncertainty— drive selection by processing salient, surprising, and/or correlated information contained within and across stimulus dimensions. Each structure modulates the buildup of excitation to targets and the buildup of inhibition to distractors and to memories of previous stimuli. Tectonic theory is implemented to simulate the impact of 4 types of context on the presence, magnitude, and direction of congruity effects and task effects in the Stroop paradigm. The tectonic model is shown to surpass other formal models in explaining the range and diversity of Stroop effects.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There is considerable evidence from outside the laboratory that people actively engage in reasoning when faced with real-world moral dilemmas, which limits the strong claims of the social intuitionist model concerning the irrelevance of conscious deliberation.
Abstract: The social intuitionist model (J. Haidt, 2001) posits that fast and automatic intuitions are the primary source of moral judgments. Conscious deliberations play little causal role; they are used mostly to construct post hoc justifications for judgments that have already occurred. In this article, the authors present evidence that fast and automatic moral intuitions are actually shaped and informed by prior reasoning. More generally, there is considerable evidence from outside the laboratory that people actively engage in reasoning when faced with real-world moral dilemmas. Together, these facts limit the strong claims of the social intuitionist model concerning the irrelevance of conscious deliberation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: By integrating evidence from physiology to phylogeny, the parallel map theory offers a unified explanation for hippocampal function and may explain paradoxes of spatial learning.
Abstract: In the parallel map theory, the hippocampus encodes space with 2 mapping systems. The bearing map is constructed primarily in the dentate gyrus from directional cues such as stimulus gradients. The sketch map is constructed within the hippocampus proper from positional cues. The integrated map emerges when data from the bearing and sketch maps are combined. Because the component maps work in parallel, the impairment of one can reveal residual learning by the other. Such parallel function may explain paradoxes of spatial learning, such as learning after partial hippocampal lesions, taxonomic and sex differences in spatial learning, and the function of hippocampal neurogenesis. By integrating evidence from physiology to phylogeny, the parallel map theory offers a unified explanation for hippocampal function.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A process analysis of false-memory editing is presented, which assumes that false-but-gist-consistent events sometimes cue the retrieval of verbatim traces of the corresponding true events, generating mismatches that counteract the high familiarity of true events.
Abstract: Mechanisms for editing false events out of memory reports have fundamental implications for theories of false memory and for best practice in applied domains in which false reports must be minimized (e.g., forensic psychological interviews, sworn testimony). A mechanism posited in fuzzy-trace theory, recollection rejection, is considered. A process analysis of false-memory editing is presented, which assumes that false-but-gist-consistent events (e.g., the word SOFA, when the word COUCH was experienced) sometimes cue the retrieval of verbatim traces of the corresponding true events (COUCH), generating mismatches that counteract the high familiarity of false-but-gist-consistent events. Empirical support comes from 2 qualitative phenomena: recollective suppression of semantic false memory and inverted-U relations between retrieval time and semantic false memory. Further support comes from 2 quantitative methodologies: conjoint recognition and receiver operating characteristics. The analysis also predicts a novel false-memory phenomenon (erroneous recollection rejection), in which true events are inappropriately edited out of memory reports.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The selective attention for identification model (SAIM) is presented, which uses a spatial window to select visual information for recognition, binding parts to objects and generating translation-invariant recognition and provides a qualitative account of both normal and disordered attention.
Abstract: The selective attention for identification model (SAIM) is presented. This uses a spatial window to select visual information for recognition, binding parts to objects and generating translation-invariant recognition. The model provides a qualitative account of both normal and disordered attention. Simulations of normal attention demonstrate 2-object costs and effects of object familiarity on selection, global precedence, spatial cueing, and inhibition of return. When lesioned, SAIM demonstrated either view- or object-centered neglect or spatial extinction, depending on the type and extent of lesion. The model provides a framework to unify (a) object- and space-based theories of normal selection, (b) dissociations within the syndrome of unilateral neglect, and (c) attentional and representational accounts of neglect.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors conclude that computational models have great potential to advance psychologists' understanding of developmental deficits because they focus on the developmental process itself as a pivotal causal factor in producing atypical phenotypic outcomes.
Abstract: An increasing number of connectionist models have been proposed to explain behavioral deficits in developmental disorders. These simulations motivate serious consideration of the theoretical implications of the claim that a developmental disorder fits within the parameter space of a particular computational model of normal development. The authors examine these issues in depth with respect to a series of new simulations investigating past-tense formation in Williams syndrome. This syndrome and the past-tense domain are highly relevant because both have been used to make strong theoretical claims about the processes underlying normal language acquisition. The authors conclude that computational models have great potential to advance psychologists' understanding of developmental deficits because they focus on the developmental process itself as a pivotal causal factor in producing atypical phenotypic outcomes.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: By considering a wide range of possible values for the unknown variables, it is possible to calculate a range of theoretical values for p(H0\F) and to draw conclusions about both hypothesis testing and theory evaluation.
Abstract: Because the probability of obtaining an experimental finding given that the null hypothesis is true [p(F\H0)] is not the same as the probability that the null hypothesis is true given a finding [p(H0\F)], calculating the former probability does not justify conclusions about the latter one. As the standard null-hypothesis significance-testing procedure does just that, it is logically invalid (J. Cohen, 1994). Theoretically, Bayes's theorem yields p(H0\F), but in practice, researchers rarely know the correct values for 2 of the variables in the theorem. Nevertheless, by considering a wide range of possible values for the unknown variables, it is possible to calculate a range of theoretical values for p(H0\F) and to draw conclusions about both hypothesis testing and theory evaluation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued here that this reliance on profiling odors reflects a basic property of odor perception, namely that odor quality depends on the implicit memories that an odorant elicits.
Abstract: The psychological basis of odor quality is poorly understood. For pragmatic reasons, descriptions of odor quality generally rely on profiling odors in terms of what odorants they bring to mind. It is argued here that this reliance on profiling reflects a basic property of odor perception, namely that odor quality depends on the implicit memories that an odorant elicits. This is supported by evidence indicating that odor quality as well as one's ability to discriminate odors is affected by experience. Developmental studies and cross-cultural research also point to this conclusion. In this article, these findings are reviewed and a model that attempts to account for them is proposed. Finally, the model's consistency with both neurophysiological and neuropsychological data is examined.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The model's predictions of larger planning increments as production rate decreases and as producers' age-experience increases are confirmed in serial-ordering errors produced by adults and children.
Abstract: People produce long sequences such as speech and music with incremental planning: mental preparation of a subset of sequence events. The authors model in music performance the sequence events that can be retrieved and prepared during production. Events are encoded in terms of their serial order and timing relative to other events in a planning increment, a contextually determined distribution of event activations. Planning is facilitated by events' metrical similarity and serial/temporal proximity and by developmental changes in short-term memory. The model's predictions of larger planning increments as production rate decreases and as producers' age-experience increases are confirmed in serial-ordering errors produced by adults and children. Incremental planning is considered as a general retrieval constraint in serially ordered behaviors.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This framework integrates findings from evolutionary psychology, recognizes the adaptive significance of developmental processes, conserves the distinction between cognitive and noncognitive mechanisms, and encompasses research on human and nonhuman animals.
Abstract: Four routes of cognitive evolution are distinguished: phylogenetic construction, in which natural selection produces qualitative change to the way a cognitive mechanism operates (language); phylogenetic inflection, in which natural selection biases the input to a cognitive mechanism (imprinting and spatial memory); ontogenetic construction, in which developmental selection alters the way a cognitive mechanism operates (face recognition and theory of mind); and ontogenetic inflection, in which developmental selection changes the input to a cognitive mechanism (imitation). This framework integrates findings from evolutionary psychology (i.e., all research on the evolution of mentality and behavior). In contrast with human nativist evolutionary psychology, it recognizes the adaptive significance of developmental processes, conserves the distinction between cognitive and noncognitive mechanisms, and encompasses research on human and nonhuman animals.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The author outlines a protocentric model, the self-as-distinct (SAD) model, in which generic representations of prototypicOthers serve as the default; representations of self, specific others, or categories encode only distinctiveness from generic knowledge about prototypic others.
Abstract: In this article, the author discusses the limitations of the egocentric view of self in which self serves as an automatic filter, inhibiting access to alternative representations of others' thoughts and feelings. The author then outlines a protocentric model, the self-as-distinct (SAD) model, in which generic representations of prototypic others serve as the default; representations of self, specific others, or categories encode only distinctiveness from generic knowledge about prototypic others. Thus, self-knowledge is distributed both in generic representations in which self and prototypic others are undifferentiated and in a self-representation that encodes distinctiveness. The self-representation does not serve to make predictions about others because it encodes how self differs from the generic representation of others. Predictions that are the same about self and others are protocentric, based on generic knowledge that serves as the default. The SAD model parsimoniously accounts for many inconsistent findings across various domains in social cognition.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence is presented that AN's distinctive symptoms of restricting food, denial of starvation, and hyperactivity are likely to be evolved adaptive mechanisms that facilitated ancestral nomadic foragers leaving depleted environments; genetically susceptible individuals who lose too much weight may trigger these archaic adaptations.
Abstract: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is commonly attributed to psychological conflicts, attempts to be fashionably slender, neuroendocrine dysfunction, or some combination of these factors. Considerable research reveals these theories to be incomplete. Psychological and societal factors account for the decision to diet but not for the phenomenology of the disorder; theories of biological defects fail to explain neuroendocrine findings that suggest coordinated physiological mechanisms. This article presents evidence that AN’s distinctive symptoms of restricting food, denial of starvation, and hyperactivity are likely to be evolved adaptive mechanisms that facilitated ancestral nomadic foragers leaving depleted environments; genetically susceptible individuals who lose too much weight may trigger these archaic adaptations. This hypothesis accounts for the occurrence of AN-like syndromes in both humans and animals and is consistent with changes observed in the physiology, cognitions, and behavior of patients with AN.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Pizarro, Bloom, and I all agree on the big picture of moral psychology: the field badly needed updating as mentioned in this paper, a field that was a major part of the cognitive revolution needed to be brought forward through the affect revolution of the 1980s and into the age of automaticity and dual process models that began in the 1990s.
Abstract: A critique and reply are most productive when the authors on both sides share some areas of agreement and a sense of mutual respect. I am very fortunate that the present exchange seems likely to be productive. Pizarro, Bloom, and I all agree on the big picture of moral psychology: The field badly needed updating. A field that was a major part of the cognitive revolution needed to be brought forward through the affect revolution of the 1980s and into the age of automaticity and dual process models that began in the 1990s (e.g., Bargh, 1994). We also agree with the insight of Nisbett and Wilson (1977) that people often do not know or cannot explain why they feel what they feel, but they frequently make up explanations anyway. Kohlberg’s (1969) method of taking verbal justifications

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors conclude that dissociations between priming and recognition do not require functionally or neurally distinct memory systems and can be reproduced by a single-system connectionist model of learning.
Abstract: A key claim of current theoretical analyses of the memory impairments associated with amnesia is that certain distinct forms of learning and memory are spared. A compelling example is that amnesic patients and controls are indistinguishable in repetition priming but amnesic patients are impaired at recognizing the study items. The authors show that this pattern of results is predicted by a single-system connectionist model of learning in which amnesia is simulated by a reduced learning rate. They also demonstrate that the model can reproduce the converse pattern in which priming but not recognition is impaired if the input is assumed to be additionally degraded in a priming test. The authors conclude that dissociations between priming and recognition do not require functionally or neurally distinct memory systems.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The author argues that in research on perceptions of self-other similarities, the egocentric process of social projection is well-established and self-referent knowledge is most readily accessible and receives greater weight in prediction tasks than does other- Referent knowledge.
Abstract: Assessing the status of the self in social prediction, Karniol (2003) questioned the prevalent metatheory of egocentrism. According to this metatheory, situational cues automatically activate self-referent knowledge. People then use this knowledge to predict the responses of others, be they individuals or groups. To the extent that individuating information about others is also available, the resulting predictions are compromises between that additional information and the predictor’s own egocentric generalizations. This metatheory has rarely, if ever, been articulated so clearly, perhaps because its assumptions have been uncritically accepted for too long. Karniol’s exposition is thus a breath of fresh air. It forces the field to review the validity of these assumptions, not in the least because Karniol presents an alternative view, which reverses the received wisdom at every turn. The alternative protocentrism paradigm considers beliefs concerning the attributes of the generalized or prototypical person to be the bedrock of social prediction. Protocenters are said to influence predictions in two ways. First, people assume by default that they share the attributes of the protocenter. Thus, many attributes of the self match the protocentric attributes because the former are derived from the latter. Because many protocentric attributes also affect how other individuals are perceived, these others appear to be similar to the self. This similarity is, however, fully mediated by the shared protocentric source. Second, people recognize idiosyncratic differences between themselves (or another individual) and the protocenter by way of direct comparisons. Attributes tagged as being distinctive then form the core of the self-concept. The theoretical value of the protocenter model depends on the clarity of its conceptual structure; its empirical viability will depend on the success with which it can account for existing data and its fertility in generating novel and testable hypotheses. In my view, three conceptual issues need to be resolved for the protocentrism paradigm to become more compelling. In regard to its empirical status, I review three sets of findings from research on consensus estimation. These findings lead me to conclude that at the present time the conventional view of egocentrism is supported rather well.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The discussion centers on how the particular simulation specifications compare with other models of group biases and how they may be used to develop novel hypotheses for testing the connectionist modeling approach and for improving theorizing in the field of social biases and stereotype change.
Abstract: Major biases and stereotypes in group judgments are reviewed and modeled from a recurrent connectionist perspective. These biases are in the areas of group impression formation (illusory correlation), group differentiation (accentuation), stereotype change (dispersed vs. concentrated distribution of inconsistent information), and group homogeneity. All these phenomena are illustrated with well-known experiments, and simulated with an autoassociative network architecture with linear activation update and delta learning algorithm for adjusting the connection weights. All the biases were successfully reproduced in the simulations. The discussion centers on how the particular simulation specifications compare with other models of group biases and how they may be used to develop novel hypotheses for testing the connectionist modeling approach and, more generally, for improving theorizing in the field of social biases and stereotype change.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that comparable vocalizations in other species do index separation distress and anthropomorphic-zoomorphic reasoning may be a viable cross-species research strategy as long as it is limited to neuroscientific contexts that lead to testable predictions in humans and other animals.
Abstract: M. S. Blumberg and G. Sokoloff's (2001) critical analysis has raised doubt whether emotional feelings can be studied in nonhuman animals, and they have reaffirmed the inappropriateness of anthropomorphic reasoning in animal research. They argue that the ultrasonic distress calls of infant rats may be little more than acoustic by-products of bodily adjustments to physiological stressors. This author argues that comparable vocalizations in other species do index separation distress. Considering that there may be deep homologies in the neural systems that govern such emotional processes in many mammalian species, anthropomorphic-zoomorphic reasoning may be a viable cross-species research strategy as long as it is limited to neuroscientific contexts that lead to testable predictions in humans and other animals.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A theory is presented that explains how the visual system infers the lightness, opacity, and depth of surfaces from stereoscopic images and suggests that a global transmittance anchoring principle expresses how variations in contrast magnitudes are used to infer the presence of transparent surfaces.
Abstract: A theory is presented that explains how the visual system infers the lightness, opacity, and depth of surfaces from stereoscopic images. It is shown that the polarity and magnitude of image contrast play distinct roles in surface perception, which can be captured by 2 principles of perceptual inference. First, a contrast depth asymmetry principle articulates how the visual system computes the ordinal depth and lightness relationships from the polarity of local, binocularly matched image contrast. Second, a global transmittance anchoring principle expresses how variations in contrast magnitudes are used to infer the presence of transparent surfaces. It is argued that these principles provide a unified explanation of how the visual system computes the 3-D surface structure of opaque and transparent surfaces.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors show that reduced relatives of The horse raced past the barn fell type occur in naturally produced sentences with a near-zero probability, whereas reduced relatives with other verbs occur with a probability of about 1 in 20.
Abstract: A new explanation is proposed for a long standing question in psycholinguistics: Why are some reduced relative clauses so difficult to comprehend? It is proposed that the meanings of some verbs like race are incompatible with the meaning of the reduced relative clause and that this incompatibility makes sentences like The horse raced past the barn fell unacceptable. In support of their hypotheses, the authors show that reduced relatives of The horse raced past the barn fell type occur in naturally produced sentences with a near-zero probability, whereas reduced relatives with other verbs occur with a probability of about 1 in 20. The authors also support the hypotheses with a number of psycholinguistic experiments and corpus studies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors proposed an alternative pacemaker-free view that demonstrates that temporal discrimination can be explained by using only two assumptions: (a) variation and selection of responses through competition between reinforced behavior and all other elicited, behaviors and (b) modulation of the strength of response competition by the memory for recent reinforcement.
Abstract: Interval timing in operant conditioning is the learned covariation of a temporal dependent measure such as wait time with a temporal independent variable such as fixed-interval duration. The dominant theories of interval timing all incorporate an explicit internal clock, or "pacemaker," despite its lack of independent evidence. The authors propose an alternative, pacemaker-free view that demonstrates that temporal discrimination can be explained by using only 2 assumptions: (a) variation and selection of responses through competition between reinforced behavior and all other, elicited, behaviors and (b) modulation of the strength of response competition by the memory for recent reinforcement. The model departs radically from existing timing models: It shows that temporal learning can emerge from a simple dynamic process that lacks a periodic time reference such as a pacemaker.