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Here, we assess whether quantity representations are influenced by the perceptual biases hypothesized to manifest in depressive individuals. In contrast to this clinical model, several prominent models of numerical cognition assume that quantity representations are abstract, and therefore are independent of the items that are being quantified. If this is the case, then the depression induced perceptual biases should not manifest with respect to the perception of quantity. We tested these predictions in two experiments in which we presented participants with a number-line with a tick mark that indicated the time until a positive, neutral, or negative event. The participant's task was to estimate the quantity of time indicated by the tick mark. In both experiments, we assessed participants' BDI-II score. To assess the role of controlled, strategic processing on the manifestation of these biases, we manipulated the amount of time that participants were able to study the number-line prior to responding. In Experiment 1, we attempted to motivate participants to respond quickly voluntarily. The results revealed no influence of time pressure on participants' RTs, nor any relation between quantity bias and depression. In Experiment 2, we restricted the amount of time participants could spend viewing the number-line. The results revealed estimation biases consistent with the perceptual biases predicted by Beck's cognitive theory of depression for the short presentation times. These findings (1) confirm that level of depression is linked to the predicted perceptual biases of quantity and (2) implicate controlled processing in the masking of perceptual bias.

Here, we present a strong test of the hypothesis that sacrificial moral dilemmas are solved using the same value-based decision mechanism that operates on decisions concerning economic goods. To test this hypothesis, we developed Psychological Value Theory. Psychological Value Theory is an expansion and generalization of Cohen and Ahn's (2016) Theory of Subjective Utilitarianism. Psychological Value Theory defines a new theoretical construct termed "Psychological Value," measures Psychological Value using a traditional psychophysics paradigm, and predicts preferential choice from those measurements using a value-based computational model. We evaluate the validity of Psychological Value Theory across six experiments. In Experiment 1, we use Psychological Value Theory to estimate the perceived Psychological Value of human lives and economic goods. The data reveal that perceived Psychological Value of lives is highly influenced by individual differences of people but minimally influenced by the number of people in a group. In Experiments 2-5, we demonstrate that when used as input in a value-based computational model, perceived Psychological Values of human lives accurately predict participants' RT and response choices to sacrificial moral dilemmas. In Experiment 6, we replicate these findings for decisions involving economic goods. We cross-validate our results with multiple data sets using multiple methods. We conclude that the same value-based processes underlying economic decisions also underlie choices involving human lives.

Objective: In March 2020, the emergence of COVID-19 as a pandemic prompted large scale, social lockdowns internationally. Participants/Method: Here, we compared the mental health symptoms and social functioning of pre-pandemic college students collected during the Spring 2020 semester to those of a pandemic group collected during the Fall 2020 semester. Results: Results reveal that students assessed during the pandemic reported more severe symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression, yet no difference in anxiety symptoms, relative to students assessed before the pandemic. Furthermore, students assessed during the pandemic conceptualized and categorized their emotions with significantly more neutral emotions and significantly fewer positive emotions, yet no difference in negative emotions, relative to students assessed before the pandemic. Despite these mental health effects, we found no difference between the two groups in self-reported social functioning. Conclusion: Overall, these results suggest young adults' mental health was significantly impacted by the pandemic, with the potential for long lasting effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kim and Opfer (2017) report data that demonstrate children produce a negatively accelerating (e.g., logarithmic) response pattern in the unbounded number-line task. This pattern of results is the opposite of those generally reported for the unbounded number-line task (e.g., Cohen & Blanc-Goldhammer, 2011; Cohen & Sarnecka, 2014). We believe Kim and Opfer's (2017) experimental procedure inadvertently biased participants' data in the unbounded task. Here, we (a) outline the factors that induce experimental bias in computerized number-line tasks, (b) identify the likely source of experimental bias in Kim and Opfer (2017) that led to the negatively accelerating pattern of data, (c) introduce a new number-line variation (the universal number-line task), and (d) introduce a publicly available, open source number-line task that provides researchers with a simple, robust, and correct method for collecting data on the unbounded, bounded, and universal number-line tasks. We conclude that Kim and Opfer's (2017) implementation of the unbounded number-line is biased, and therefore cannot provide meaningful support for the log-to-linear shift hypothesis. [For the original article, "A Unified Framework for Bounded and Unbounded Numerical Estimation," see EJ1142527.]

Computer-based, pop-up glossaries are perhaps the most promising accommodation aimed at mitigating the influence of linguistic structure and cultural bias on the performance of English Learner (EL) students on statewide assessments. To date, there is no established procedure for identifying the words that require a glossary for EL students that is sufficiently reliable. In the coding procedure, we developed a method to reliably identify words and phrases that require a glossary. The method developed in the coding procedure was used to provide glossaries for the field-test items of statewide English language arts (ELA) and mathematics assessments across grades 3-11 (Current Study). In the Current Study, we assess the effectiveness and influence on construct validity of a pop-up glossary of the words identified in the coding procedure in a large scale, randomized controlled trial. The results demonstrated that generally the pop-up glossary accommodation was effective for both the ELA and mathematics assessments and did not harm the construct being measured.

Construct-irrelevant cognitive complexity of some items in the statewide grade-level assessments may impose performance barriers for students with disabilities who are ineligible for alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards. This has spurred research into whether items can be modified to reduce complexity without affecting item construct. This study uses a generalized linear mixed modeling analysis to investigate the effects of item modifications on improving test accessibility by reducing construct-irrelevant cognitive barriers for persistently low-performing fifth-grade students with cognitive disabilities. The results showed item scaffolding was an effective modification for both mathematics and reading. Other modifications, such as bolding/underlining of key words, hindered test performance for low-performing students. We discuss the findings' potential impact on test development with universal design.

Current understanding of the development of quantity representations is based primarily on performance in the number-line task. We posit that the data from number-line tasks reflect the observer's underlying representation of quantity, together with the cognitive strategies and skills required to equate line length and quantity. Here, we specify a unified theory linking the underlying psychological representation of quantity and the associated strategies in four variations of the number-line task: the production and estimation variations of the bounded and unbounded number-line tasks. Comparison of performance in the bounded and unbounded number-line tasks provides a unique and direct way to assess the role of strategy in number-line completion. Each task produces a distinct pattern of data, yet each pattern is hypothesized to arise, at least in part, from the same underlying psychological representation of quantity. Our model predicts that the estimated biases from each task should be equivalent if the different completion strategies are modeled appropriately and no other influences are at play. We test this equivalence hypothesis in two experiments. The data reveal all variations of the number-line task produce equivalent biases except for one: the estimation variation of the bounded number-line task. We discuss the important implications of these findings.

Children’s understanding of numbers is often assessed using a number-line task, where the child is shown a line labeled with 0 at one end, and a higher number (e.g., 100) at the other end. The child is then asked where on the line some intermediate number (e.g., 70) should go. Performance on this task changes predictably during childhood, and this has often been interpreted as evidence of a change in the child’s psychological representation of integer quantities. The present paper presents theoretical and empirical evidence that the change in number-line performance actually reflects the development of measurement skills used in the task. We compare two versions of the number-line task: the bounded version used in the literature and a new, unbounded version. Results indicate that it is only children’s performance on the bounded task (which requires subtraction or division) that changes markedly with age. In contrast, children’s performance on the unbounded task (which requires only addition) remains fairly constant as they get older. Thus, developmental changes in performance on the traditional, bounded number-line task likely reflect the growth of task-specific measurement skills, rather than changes in the child’s understanding of numerical quantities.

We conducted a series of recognition experiments that assessed whether visual short-term memory (VSTM) is sensitive to shared category membership of to-be-remembered (tbr) images of common objects. In Experiment 1 some of the tbr items shared the same basic level category (e.g., hand axe): Such items were no better retained than others. In the remaining experiments, displays contained different images of items from the same higher-level category (e.g., food: a bagel, a sandwich, a pizza). Evidence from the later experiments did suggest that participants were sensitive to the categorical relations present in the displays. However, when separate measures of sensitivity and bias were computed, the data revealed no effects on sensitivity, but a greater tendency to respond positively to noncategory items relative to items from the depicted category. Across all experiments, there was no evidence that items from a common category were better remembered than unique items. Previous work has shown that principles of perceptual organization do affect the storage and maintenance of tbr items. The present work shows that there are no corresponding conceptual principles of organization in VSTM. It is concluded that the sort of VSTM tapped by single probe recognition methods is precategorical in nature.

Research has shown that integer comparison is quick and efficient. This efficiency may be a function of the structure of the integer comparison system. The present study tests whether integers are compared with an unlimited capacity system or a limited capacity system. We tested these models using a visual search task with time delimitation. The data from Experiments 1 and 2 indicate that integers are encoded, identified, and compared within an unlimited capacity system. The data from Experiment 3 indicate that 2nd-order magnitude comparisons are processed with a highly efficient limited capacity system.

This study analyzed the current state of the gender literacy gap and the change in the gender literacy gap between 1992 and 2003, using the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). The results revealed that although there were significant gender literacy gaps in 1992, virtually all male-paramount literacy gaps (males obtaining higher scores than females) disappeared in the 2003 survey. Much of this gain can be ascribed to more women participating in higher education. Variations in literacy gap changes by race (Black and White) and educational attainment were also investigated. (Contains 7 figures, 7 tables and 2 notes.)

Historically, Whites have scored higher than Blacks on most measures of literacy (referred to as the "Black-White" literacy gap). The authors outline the historic social inequities that contributed to the Black-White literacy gap as well as the current school and home environment that may maintain it. They then examine the current state of the Black-White literacy gap using data from the primary instrument that the U.S. Department of Education uses to assess adult literacy: the 1992 National Assessment of Literacy Survey and the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Their analysis shows that (a) the adult Black-White literacy gap decreased between 1992 and 2003, although is still sizable; (b) Blacks and Whites garner equal gains from advancing in educational attainment; (c) there was little evidence of a reduction in Black-White literacy gaps within educational attainment levels, and (d) there was significant evidence of more Blacks moving up the educational attainment ladder. This pattern of data suggests that the decrease in the overall Black-White literacy gap was significantly influenced by Blacks' achievement of higher levels of educational attainment. (Contains 5 notes, 7 tables and 2 figures.)

The present study documents everyday adult writing by type of text and medium (computer or paper) in an "in vivo" diary study. The authors compare writing patterns by gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, age and working status. The study results reveal that (a) writing time varied with demographic variables for networkers, but these variations disappear for workers; (b) all demographic groups spent more time writing documents than prose; (c) most demographic groups spent an equal amount of time writing using computers and paper, but younger and higher educated groups spent more writing time on the computer, while older and less educated groups spent more time writing using paper than the computer; and (d) workers spent more time writing using computers than paper. Implications of the study findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are also given. (Contains 1 note and 5 tables.)

Participants' reaction times (RTs) in numerical judgment tasks in which one must determine which of 2 numbers is greater generally follow a monotonically decreasing function of the numerical distance between the two presented numbers. Here, I present 3 experiments in which the relative influences of numerical distance and physical similarity are assessed in just such a task using integers and decimals as stimuli. The data reveal that numerical distance is the primary feature controlling participants' RTs when integers are presented. However, the physical similarity between the decade place of the standard and the probe is the primary feature controlling participants' RTs when decimals are presented. I conclude that the unique qualities of decimals do not lend themselves to share the place-coding representation of integers, thus a direct retrieval mechanism for judging the relative quantity of decimals has developed. (Contains 4 tables, 5 figures and 5 footnotes.)

This study assessed the utility of document prevalence and familiarity as predictors of adult document literacy performance. Three indexes--quantifying document prevalence, document familiarity, and the frequency of document use--were constructed using survey responses from an adult community sample and documents collected from government agencies and businesses. All three indexes significantly predicted document task performance on the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey and the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, both of which were administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The three indexes, as individual predictors, accounted for 70% (familiarity), 51% (frequency of use), and 31% (prevalence) of the variation in document task performance. Document familiarity may aid in the search and retrieval of information from documents, thereby facilitating document literacy. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures and 1 note.)

To assess the contribution of situational factors to alcohol use during a naturally occurring high-stress time, 73 undergraduate students were studied. Contrary to the prediction of a simple tension-reduction model, results showed that students preferred to address heightened anxiety by studying to pass exams. Programmatic implications are discussed. (EMK)

This article presents a theoretical and experimental framework for assessing the biases associated with the interpretation of numbers. This framework consists of having participants convert between different representations of quantities. These representations should include both variations in numerical labels that symbolize quantities and variations in displays in which quantity is inherent. Five experiments assessed how people convert between relative frequencies, decimals, and displays of dots that denote very low proportions (i.e., proportions below 1%). The participants demonstrated perceptual, response, and numerical transformation biases. Furthermore, the data suggest that relative frequencies and decimals are associated with different abstract representations of amount.

This article discusses the psychological aspects of hypochondria and illness preoccupation. Topics include anxiety, perceptual bias, and emotional disorder.

A single-subject human experiment involving two males and one female was conducted to begin a detailed exploration of temporal contingencies on the slope of the function response time (or RT) = f(alpha). Results indicate that the slope of the function RT = f(alpha) can come under the control of temporal contingencies and that the mental rotation strategy is not a fixed characteristic of the individual.