Bron: Munro,-Murray-J; Derwing,-Tracey-M (1998). The effects of speaking rate on listener evaluations of native and foreign-accented speech. J. Language-Learning. Vol 48(2): 159-182.

AbstractThis study tested the hypothesis that accented speech heard at a reduced rate would sound less accented and more comprehensible than speech produced at a normal rate. In 2 experiments, English native-speaker listeners rated a passage read by 10 high-proficiency Mandarin learners of English. In the first experiment, 20 listeners evaluated passages read slowly as more accented and less comprehensible than normal-rate passages. In the second experiment, in which a computer modified speaking rates, 20 new listeners preferred some speeded passages, but none of the slowed ones. Overall, the findings suggest that although native listeners may prefer to hear accented speech at slower rates, a general speaking strategy of slowing down may not help second language learners.

Understandable in a foreign language

Read this abstract

1. Who are the participants? Identify the (in)dependent variables

2. Tell in your own words how this experiment was carried out (pick either 1st or 2nd), materials, procedures

3. Draw the design and graph the results

Read this abstract

1. Who are the participants? Identify the (in)dependent variables

2. Tell in your own words how this experiment was carried out (pick either 1st or 2nd), materials, procedures

3. Draw the design and graph the results

Understandable in a foreign language

Participants: 20 listeners (native speakers) Independent variable: speed of speech Dependent variable: evaluation of speaker’s

“accent”

Course:

Ten speakers (chinese speaking English very well) are asked to read some specific text aloud (counterbalancing: there are 2 passages, 5 read 1st at high speed, second slow; the other 5 read the first passage slowly, the second fast)

Listeners rate the speaker’s accent.

Understandable in a foreign language

Slow Y11 Y12

R

Normal

Y21 Y22Normal Slow

Passage 1 Passage 2DESIGN

RESULTS

(rating of)Accent

Reading speedSlow Normal

“strange”

“good”Average of Y12 and Y21

Average of Y11 and Y22

Bron:Wood,-J; Moffoot,-A-P-R; O'-Carroll,-Ronan- (1998). "Depressive realism" revisited: Depressed patients are realistic when they are wrong but are unrealistic when they are right. J. Cognitive-Neuropsychiatry. Vol 3(2): 119-126.

Abstract:Using new samples and a different experimental procedure, the authors attempted to replicate a previous report finding that depressed patients were significantly less confident in their responses when they were correct in comparison with a matched control group. In Exp 1, 10 depressed inpatients (mean age 40.6 yrs) were compared with 10 healthy controls (mean age 53.6 yrs). Self-confidence was rated in a face-recognition experiment. Depressed patients were significantly less confident than controls when they performed the face-recognition correctly. However, there were no differences between the groups in self-confidence ratings when they made recognition errors. In Exp 2, the procedure was repeated in a comparison of 10 dysphoric (mean age 19.5 yrs) vs 10 nondysphoric (mean age 20.1 yrs) healthy adults. No between-group differences in self-confidence ratings emerged when performing the face-recognition task correctly or incorrectly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Self-confidence in depression

Read the abstract

1. Name (in)dependent variables and their possible values

2. Explain how the 1st experiment was carried out (materials, procedures, …)

3. Make proper figures explaining design and results

Read the abstract

1. Name (in)dependent variables and their possible values

2. Explain how the 1st experiment was carried out (materials, procedures, …)

3. Make proper figures explaining design and results

Self-confidence in depression

Dependent variable = magnitude of self-confidence Independent variables

Magnitude of depression Quality of recognition

Course of the experiment: Pics of well-known people are shown to participants. They

must say who these people are and how sure they are about it.

Raw data: measure of depression, per foto: recognition (correct/wrong) and rating of certainty (bv. 0 tot 10)

Data: per participant: depression, average self-confidence if correct, average self-confidence if wrong

Self-confidence in depression

Control

Control

Y1

Y2

Depressed

Depressed

Y3

Y4

Correct

Wrong

Correct

Wrong

Participants Recognition Self-confidence

Sel

f-co

nfid

ence

Recognition

Wrong Correct

Depressed

Control

DESIGN RESULTS

Y1

Y3

Y4

Y2

Bron:Luoma,-Juha; Penttinen,-Merja (1998). Effects of experience with retroreflectors on recognition of nighttime pedestrians: Comparison of driver performance in Finland and Michigan. J. Transportation-Research-Part-F:-Traffic-Psychology-and-Behaviour. 1998 Aug; Vol 1F(1): 47-58.

Abstract:This field study replicated a recent experiment by J. Luoma et al (1996) on the effects of retroreflector positioning on nighttime recognition of pedestrians. The key difference between the 2 studies was that Finnish drivers who have substantial experience with different pedestrian retroreflectors were used in the present study, while Michigan drivers--whose experience with pedestrian retroreflectors is more limited--were used in the previous study. Ss were 16 adults (aged 20-27 yrs and 63-68 yrs). The S's task was to press a response button whenever he recognized a pedestrian on or alongside the road, while in a car, with low-beam lamps on, that was driven on a dark road. The results show that the main effects were the same as found in the previous study. Specifically, the retroreflective markings attached to the limbs led to significantly longer recognition distances than when the retroreflective markings were attached to the torso, and a pedestrian was more recognizable while crossing the road than while approaching the subject vehicle. However, the differences between the recognition distances produced by the various retroreflector configurations were smaller in Finland than in Michigan, and the Finnish Ss more frequently responded incorrectly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Bron:Belanger,-Heather-G; Kirkpatrick,-Lee-A; Derks,-Peter (1998). The effects of humor on verbal and imaginal problem solving.International-Journal-of-Humor-Research; Vol 11(1): 21-31.

Abstract:Humor is frequently associated with creativity but its role in other forms of problem solving has received less attention. In this experiment, humor was examined as a possible primer for enhanced performance in an imaginal and in a verbal task, with 80 undergraduate students. Jokes and simple sentences of high or low imagery were presented prior to participants' attempts to solve either mental rotation of figures or verbal analogies. Results show that the effect of imagery, as manipulated here, was not significant. Humor, however, speeded mental rotation, and slowed performance on analogies for men, whereas women's solution times were relatively unaffected. Greater hemispheric lateralization among men was considered as a possible explanation for this pattern of results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Bron:Ziv,-Avner (1988). Teaching and learning with humor: Experiment and replication. Journal-of-Experimental-Education. Vol 57(1): 5-15.

Abstract:Study 1 used relevant humor in a 1-semester statistics course in an experimental group of 51 female and 31 male university students and no humor in a control group of 46 female and 33 male university students. Results show significant differences between the 2 groups in favor of the group learning with humor. No significant sex differences nor interactions were found. Study 2 was a replication of the first, using 132 students in a 1-semester introductory psychology course. Ss (all females) were divided into 2 groups. Humor was used in one, and the same teacher taught the 2nd group without using humor. Again, significant differences were found: The group studying with humor had higher scores on the final exam. Explanations for the ways in which humor in teaching can influence student learning are given. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)(unassigned)

Memory for humorous cartoons.

Auteur:

Schmidt SR, Williams AR. Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro 37132, USA. sschmidt@mtsu.edu

Incidental memory for three types of cartoons was compared: original cartoons, literal translations of the originals, and weird cartoons created by inserting incongruous material into the literal translations. In Experiment 1, the three types of cartoons were mixed together in lists. In Experiment 2, each list contained only two cartoon types. In both experiments, original cartoons were remembered better than the literal and the weird cartoons, whereas the literal and the weird cartoons were equally well remembered. The detection of incongruities, or attempts to resolve those incongruities, cannot adequately explain the observed humor effects. The results were also inconsistent with both rehearsal and distinctiveness interpretations. Rather, humor per se appears to support good memory performance. Perhaps participants elaborated or gave sustained attention to humorous material at the expense of less humorous material.

A survey of pet owner views of veterinarians in Brisbane environs - a behavioral approach.

Chamala S, Crouch BR.

Three hundred and thirty-seven pet owners were interviewed by final-year veterinary students from the University of Queensland, using a questionnaire prepared by the authors. The survey area included Brisbane city and suburbs and was conducted in 1977. The majority of respondents (52.5%) reported that the pets were owned by the family, while 24.6% claimed that pets were owned by individual adults only. Dogs and cats were the most popular pets. Of the respondents sampled, 51% changed their veterinarian while 46% reported that they had not changed their veterinarian. Satisfaction with the service, nearness of the service and personal liking were the major reasons for continuing to use the same veterinary surgeon. Nearly 40% of respondents used the veterinary service on the basis of recommendation of friends, relatives and other people who owned similar types of pets. According to the respondents, major qualities for a good veterinarian are: competence and knowledge (86.9%), compassion for animals (61.7%), professional approach (which includes good listening and explanation, the instillation of confidence, integrity and appearance) (57.4%), regard for owners and their feelings (46.3%), good surgery conditions (14.2%) and reasonable fees (12.8%). While professional competence was reported as one of the important qualities of a good veterinary service, the majority (51%) of them disagreed with the statement that professional competence is the only thing that matters in the care of pets and many other social and interpersonal factors influenced their attitude towards the veterinary service. The application of behavioural sciences to the veterinary profession is discussed.

The Hound of the Baskervilles effect: natural experiment on the influence of psychological stress on timing of death.

Phillips DP, Liu GC, Kwok K, Jarvinen JR, Zhang W, Abramson IS.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether cardiac mortality is abnormally high on days considered unlucky: Chinese and Japanese people consider the number 4 unlucky, white Americans do not. DESIGN: Examination of cardiac and non-cardiac mortality on and around the fourth of each month in Chinese and Japanese subjects and white controls. SETTING: United States. SUBJECTS: All Chinese and Japanese (n=209 908) and white (n=47 328 762) Americans whose computerised death certificates were recorded between the beginning of January 1973 and the end of December 1998. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ratio of observed to expected numbers of deaths on the fourth day of the month (expected number was estimated from mortality on other days of the month). RESULTS: Cardiac mortality in Chinese and Japanese people peaked on the fourth of the month. The peak was particularly large for deaths from chronic heart disease (ratio of observed to expected deaths = 1.13, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 1.21) and still larger for deaths from chronic heart disease in California (1.27, 1.15 to 1.39). Within this group, inpatients showed a particularly large peak on the fourth day(1.45, 1.19 to 1.81). The peak was not followed by a compensatory drop in number of deaths. White controls, matched on age, sex, marital status, hospital status, location, and cause of death, showed no similar peak in cardiac mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings of excess cardiac mortality on "unlucky" days are consistent with the hypothesis that cardiac mortality increases on psychologically stressful occasions. The results are inconsistent with nine other possible explanations for the findings-for example, the fourth day peak does not seem to occur because of changes in the patient's diet, alcohol intake, exercise, or drug regimens.

The influence of viewing eye on pseudoneglect magnitude.

McCourt ME, Garlinghouse M, Butler J.

Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo 58105-5075, USA. Mark_McCourt@ndsu.nodak.edu

Various factors influence the degree of leftward error (pseudoneglect) that typifies the performance of normal individuals in line bisection tasks. This experiment reveals that the eye through which stimuli are viewed also exerts a modulating influence on spatial attention, as indexed by significant alterations in the magnitude of pseudoneglect. Using a forced-choice tachistoscopic line bisection protocol, 24 participants (12 male; 12 female) bisected horizontally oriented lines (22.6 degrees w x 0.39 degrees h) presented to central vision in 3 conditions: left uniocular viewing (L), right uniocular viewing (R), and binocular viewing (B). Perceived line midpoint, a measure of bisection accuracy, deviated significantly leftward of veridical (p < .05) in all viewing conditions, confirming a tonic asymmetry of visuospatial attention in normal young observers. In addition, a significant influence of viewing condition was found (p < .05) where pseudoneglect was greatest in the L condition, followed by the B and R conditions, respectively. Analysis of the slopes of the psychometric functions revealed significantly greater bisection precision in the binocular versus uniocular viewing conditions (p < .05). The results are interpreted to suggest that phasic effects on spatial attention can be produced by uniocular viewing via asymmetric retinotectal projections. The results are consistent with activation-orientation theories of attentional asymmetry.

Qualitative models of seat discomfort including static and dynamic factors.Ebe K, Griffin MJ.

Judgements of overall seating comfort in dynamic conditions sometimes correlate better with the static characteristics of a seat than with measures of the dynamic environment. This study developed qualitative models of overall seat discomfort to include both static and dynamic seat characteristics. A dynamic factor that reflected how vibration discomfort increased as vibration magnitude increased was combined with a static seat factor which reflected seating comfort without vibration. The ability of the model to predict the relative and overall importance of dynamic and static seat characteristics on comfort was tested in two experiments. A paired comparison experiment, using four polyurethane foam cushions (50, 70, 100, 120 mm thick), provided different static and dynamic comfort when 12 subjects were exposed to one-third octave band random vertical vibration with centre frequencies of 2.5 and 5.5 Hz, at magnitudes of 0.00, 0.25 and 0.50 m x s(-2) rms measured beneath the foam samples. Subject judgements of the relative discomfort of the different conditions depended on both static and dynamic characteristics in a manner consistent with the model. The effect of static and dynamic seat factors on overall seat discomfort was investigated by magnitude estimation using three foam cushions (of different hardness) and a rigid wooden seat at six vibration magnitudes with 20 subjects. Static seat factors (i.e. cushion stiffness) affected the manner in which vibration influenced the overall discomfort: cushions with lower stiffness were more comfortable and more sensitive to changes in vibration magnitude than those with higher stiffness. The experiments confirm that judgements of overall seat discomfort can be affected by both the static and dynamic characteristics of a seat, with the effect depending on vibration magnitude: when vibration magnitude was low, discomfort was dominated by static seat factors; as the vibration magnitude increased, discomfort became dominated by dynamic factors.

Simulated car crashes at intersections in drivers with Alzheimer disease.

Rizzo M, McGehee DV, Dawson JD, Anderson SN.

College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA. matthew-rizzo@uiowa.edu

Current evidence suggests that car crashes in cognitively impaired older drivers often occur because of failure to notice other drivers at intersections. We tested whether licensed drivers with mild to moderate cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer disease (AD) are at greater risk for intersection crashes. In this experiment, 30 participants drove on a virtual highway in a simulator scenario where the approach to within 3.6 seconds of an intersection triggered an illegal incursion by another vehicle. To avoid collision with the incurring vehicle, the driver had to perceive, attend to, and interpret the roadway situation; formulate an evasive plan; and then exert appropriate action on the accelerator, brake, or steering controls, all under pressure of time. The results showed that 6 of 18 drivers with AD (33%) experienced crashes versus none of 12 nondemented drivers of similar age. Use of a visual tool that plots control over steering wheel position, brake and accelerator pedals, vehicle speed, and vehicle position during the 5 seconds preceding a crash event showed inattention and control responses that were either inappropriate or too slow. The findings were combined with those in another recent study of collision avoidance in drivers with AD that focused on potential rear end collisions. Predictors of crashes in the combined studies included visuospatial impairment, disordered attention, reduced processing of visual motion cues, and overall cognitive decline. The results help to specify the linkage between decline in certain cognitive domains and increased crash risk in AD and also support the use of high-fidelity simulation and neuropsychologic assessment in an effort to standardize the assessment of fitness to drive in persons with medical impairments.

Are Arabic numerals processed as pictures in a Stroop interference task?

Fias W, Reynvoet B, Brysbaert M.

Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, H. Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. wim.fias@rug.ac.be

In a picture-word interference task, picture naming is interfered by an incongruent word, but word naming is hardly hindered by the presence of an incongruent picture. In this study, we investigated whether Arabic digits are processed more like pictures or like words. We report two experiments in which Arabic digits and verbal numerals were confronted in a Stroop task. Arabic digit naming is interfered by the presence of an incongruent verbal numeral, while naming the verbal numeral is not influenced by the presence of an incongruent Arabic digit. In a second experiment, we excluded the hypothesis that the results are due to ignoring the Arabic digits: interferences from an incongruent distracter were similar for both notations in a semantic classification task. It seems that an asemantic conversion for Arabic digits is too slow to influence naming times, and that Arabic digit naming, like picture naming, is semantically mediated.

An 'other-race' effect in age estimation from faces.

Dehon H, Bredart S. (Cognitive Psychology Unit (B-32), Universite de Liege, Belgium. hedwige.dehon@ulg.ac.be)

Previous studies have shown that, in person-recognition tasks, people perform better for faces belonging to their own race than for those belonging to another race. Recently, however, this 'other-race' effect has also been found in a sex-discrimination task (O'Toole et al, 1996 Perception 25 669-676). In the present study, we investigated whether this finding extends to age perception. Caucasian and African participants were asked to estimate the age of Caucasian and African faces. The main result of this experiment was a significant 'race of subject' x 'race of face' interaction showing that Caucasian participants performed better at evaluating Caucasian faces than African faces. However, African participants performed equally with both type of faces. This result is explained by the Africans' time of residence in Belgium. The implication of this 'other-race' effect for age estimation is discussed with respect to eyewitness reports.

Read the abstract

1. Which are the (in)dependent variables and how are they measured?

2. Explain (for 1 of the experiments) how it was probably carried-out (procedure, materials, subjects, …)

3. How will the data-matrix look like probably?

4. Graph the results

Read the abstract

1. Which are the (in)dependent variables and how are they measured?

2. Explain (for 1 of the experiments) how it was probably carried-out (procedure, materials, subjects, …)

3. How will the data-matrix look like probably?

4. Graph the results

Dependent variable: “estimation error” = |estimated age – true age|

Pp Race pp

Race

foto1

(R1)

Error foto1

(F1)

R2 F2 R3 F3 Average error whit

e

Average error blac

k

Data-matrix

Est

imat

ion

erro

r

FOTO

White Black

Black participants

White participants

Lozano, D. I., Crites, S. L., & Aikman, S. N. (1999). Changes in food attitudes as a function of hunger. Appetite, 32, 207-218 This experiment investigated whether hunger selectively influences attitudes toward common food items. Participants completed a take-home questionnaire on which they rated their attitudes toward food and non-food items when they were either hungry (45 participants) or not hungry (45 participants); after returning the questionnaire, participants completed a second take-home questionnaire in the opposite hunger condition. Results of both between-subject and within-subject analyses revealed that participants rated foods more positively when hungry compared to not hungry and that there was no difference in the ratings of non-foods when hungry versus not hungry. Moreover, attitudes toward high-fat foods changed more as a function of hunger than attitudes toward low-calorie foods. As attitudes are important for guiding behavior, these results suggest that food attitudes influence daily eating patterns and consumer decisions regarding food purchases. The findings may also have important health implications because hunger exerts a greater influence on attitudes toward high-fat foods.

Pictorial Same-Different Categorical Learning and Discrimination in Pigeons

Two experiments examined the range of conditions over which five pigeons previously demonstrated to have a generalized same-different concept would transfer this behavior. Using two-alternative choice task that required discrimination of odd-item Different displays, in which contrasting elements were present, from Same displays, in which all of the elements were identical, these birds were transfer tested to novel display types that were outside the stimulus range of their established discriminative behavior. Experiment 1 found evidence of positive transfer for a majority of the birds to semi-realistic gray scale pictures of objects from four categories (birds, flowers, fish, & humans). Experiment 2 found evidence of positive transfer for a majority of the pigeons to realistic gray scale and color photographs of objects from six categories (birds, flowers, cars, cats, dogs & buildings). The results suggest these pigeons possessed a generalized rule that could be applied to novel stimuli from outside their direct experience, and add to the growing evidence that pigeons can form broadly-defined relational same-different concepts.

Human subjects were trained to find visible and invisible targets located in fixed places in a computer-generated (C-G) space. Young adults (aged 22-29 years) and Elders (aged 64-81 years) located the visible targets quickly. Young adults, however, located the invisible targets more quickly than did the Elders. On subsequent testing, Young adults and Elders reconstructed the room layout accurately, but only Young adults accurately recalled the correct location of the invisible target. Finally, examination of relations between measures of performance in natural space and measures of performance in C-G space revealed high positive correlations. The results demonstrate (a) Young adults place learn in C-G space more quickly than do Elders, (b) layout learning in C-G space occurs in both Young adults and Elders, and (c) measures of place learning taken from C-G space are externally valid.

Children’s Strategy Use in Computational EstimationPatrick Lemaire, Mireille Lecacheur, & Fernand Farioli

This study reports an investigation of ten-year-old children’s strategy use in computational estimation (i.e., give an approximate answer like 400 to an arithmetic problem like 224 + 213). Children used four strategies: rounding with decomposition, rounding without decomposition, truncation, and compensation. Strategies appeared to differ in frequency and effectiveness. Finally, children chose strategies in an adaptive way so as to obtain fast and accurate performance. Implications of these findings for understanding children’s computational estimation performance and strategies in numerical cognition in general are discussed.

Newborns Discriminate Schematic Faces From Scrambled FacesMegan A. Easterbrook, B. S. Kisilevsky, D. W. Muir, & D. P. Laplante

Newborn attention to, and discrimination of, facelike patterns was examined in three experiments employing 35 one- to three-day-old infants. Differential eye tracking and head turning to three moving stimuli (a schematic face, a scrambled face, and a luminance-matched blank) were measured in two of the three experiments. The newborns turned their eyes and heads farther to follow patterned stimuli, containing facelike features, than to a luminance-matched blank, but they did not turn farther to a stimulus with the features arranged in a facelike manner compared to features scrambled. A third experiment tested newborns’ ability to discriminate between the facelike and scrambled face patterns. Using an infant-controlled procedure, infants showed similar initial fixation times and similar numbers of trials to reach a 60% response decrement criterion to both patterned stimuli. Following habituation, novelty responding indicated that infants discriminated between the schematic face and the scrambled face patterns. Although infants did not show a preference for a facelike stimulus compared to a features-scrambled pattern in the present experiments, they could discriminate the two patterns based on the internal arrangement of the facial features.