Search

Research in psychology finds strong context effects in consumer behavior and help consumer make up their mind from choice set when none of each option better than the others in all aspects. Context effect signifies that when evaluating a focal option, individuals take into consideration characteristics of other comparative alternatives rather than only the features of that focal alternative, complicating the decision-making process. The compromise effect and attraction effect (known together as context effect) explain the underlying motivations that cause consumers to choose the middle option and introduce an inferior option to make the originally dominated option more preferable. But past research on this domain has predominantly used an easy-to-count choice scenario (refers to the ease of using individual's math skill on comparative attributes in the choice task) which is not ideally existed in real world situation. In real world purchasing situations, most of the time consumers become confused by a variety of products presented with irregular pricing, packaging or attributes which are apparently difficult to compare by math skill. This paper aim to examine 'When the level of difficulty changed while processing the comparative task on the context of a choice set, how does this influence the resultant occurrence of context effect?' Results from four experiments demonstrate that both compromise and attraction effects decreased when the choice task become more difficult., Author(s): Chao-Feng Lee [sup.1] , Shih-Chieh Chuang [sup.1] , Chou-Kang Chiu [sup.2] , Kuo-Hao Lan [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Business Administration, National Chung Cheng University, 0000 0004 0532 [...]

Previous studies showed that East Asians are more sensitive than North Americans to contextual information, and that the cultural differences in context sensitivity emerge in preschool children. Yet, little is known about whether this generalizes to children's emotional judgments. The present study tested Canadian and Japanese preschool children and examined cross-culturally the extent to which facial expressions of surrounding people influence judgments of a target person's emotion. Japanese children were more likely than Canadian children to judge an emotionally-neutral target as more negative (positive) when the background emotion was negative (positive), demonstrating an assimilation effect. Canadian children, however, showed a contrast effect: judging the target person's neutral emotion as more negative when the background emotion was positive. These data extend extant understanding of emotion recognition by illuminating nuances in perceptual processes across developmental and cultural lines., Author(s): Keiko Ishii [sup.1] , Nicholas O. Rule [sup.2] , Rie Toriyama [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) Faculty of Letters, Kobe University, 0000 0001 1092 3077, grid.31432.37, , 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, [...]

The present studies examined implicit contextual cueing in adolescents and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In Study 1, 16 individuals with ASD and 20 matched individuals with typical development completed a contextual cueing task using stimulus-identity cues. In Study 2, 12 individuals with ASD and 16 individuals with typical development completed a revised version of the contextual cueing task, using both stimulus-identity cues and global spatial-configuration cues. The results suggest that when only stimulus-identity cues were provided, individuals with ASD had difficulty with implicit contextual cueing (Study 1). However, when both stimulus-identity and spatial-configuration contextual cues were provided, individuals with ASD demonstrated successful contextual cueing (Study 2). Nuances in implicit learning and clinical implications are discussed. Keywords Implicit learning * Contextual cueing * Attention * Learning * Autism, Appropriate social skills are very often situation-dependent. Subsequently, most people look to cues in the environment to know how to act or behave in a particular situation. As these environmental [...]

Participants viewed dynamic facial expressions that moved from a neutral expression to varying degrees of angry, happy, or sad or from these emotionally expressive faces to neutral. A contrast effect was observed for expressions that moved to a neutral state. That is, a neutral expression that began as angry was rated as having a mildly positive expression, whereas the same neutral expression was rated as negatively valenced when it began with a smile. In Experiment 2, static expressions presented sequentially elicited contrast effects, but they were weaker than those following dynamic expressions. Experiment 3 assessed a broad range of facial movements across varying degrees of angry and happy expressions. We observed momentum effects for movements that ended at mildly expressive points (25% and 50% expressive). For such movements, affect ratings were higher, as if the perceived expression moved beyond their endpoint. Experiment 4 assessed sad facial expressions and found both contrast and momentum effects for dynamic expressions to and from sad faces. These findings demonstrate new and potent contextual influences on dynamic facial expressions and highlight the importance of facial movements in social-emotional communication., Consider the following scenario: At a gathering, you look up from a conversation and see an unfamiliar face turn and smile at you. Now consider the expression in reverse: You [...]

Research suggests that the relational completion procedure (RCP) is effective for studying derived relations of same and opposite. Previously, procedural parameters, such as the presence or absence of a confirmatory response requirement, were found to have a facilitative effect on the number of training trials to criterion and overall arbitrary test pass rate (i.e., yield). These experiments report on the manipulation of additional potentially important parameters--the presence or absence of selection-based feedback, 4 vs. 8 trial types and of a linked nonarbitrary and arbitrary training phase--across both the RCP and matching-to-sample (MTS) protocols with either 3 or 5 comparisons. During selection-based feedback, after the production of the confirmatory response, the sample, contextual cue, and selected comparison were presented along with corrective feedback. During the linked nonarbitrary and arbitrary phase, in the presence of the sample stimulus and the same and opposite contextual cues, respectively, selections of a nonarbitrary comparison stimulus at either end of a specified physical dimension were reinforced. Findings indicated a trend for improved performance with the inclusion of selection-based feedback and the linked nonarbitrary and arbitrary phase. There was a significant difference in yield between the RCP and MTS conditions (84% vs. 56%, respectively). The implications of the findings for contemporary research on derived relational responding are discussed. Key words: derived relational responding, matching-to-sample, relational completion procedure, relational frames, same, opposite, adult humans, Research on derived stimulus relations has grown exponentially over the past few decades (e.g., Dymond & Critchfield, 2001; Dymond, May, Munnelly, & Hoon, 2010; Rehfeldt, 2011). In 1991, Steele and [...]

Bortoloti and de Rose (2009) found evidence that the level of functional transfer is higher in equivalence classes generated by delayed matching to sample (DMTS) than in classes generated by simultaneous matching (SMTS). We attempted to replicate these findings with the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Two experimental groups established two equivalence classes, each comprised of faces expressing either anger or happiness and nonsense words. The classes were established with SMTS for one group and with DMTS for the other. Then, nonsense words and the faces were respectively presented as 'attribute' and target stimuli in IRAP tasks. The DMTS group yielded the expected IRAP effect; the SMTS group yielded an IRAP effect only when the target was a happy face. It is discussed that DMTS can enhance transfer of 'semantic' functions between equivalent stimuli, supporting the idea that the relatedness of stimuli can vary as a function of experimental parameters. Key words: stimulus equivalence, functional transfer, IRAP, relatedness of stimuli, symbolic behavior, The stimulus equivalence paradigm provides operational criteria that permit experimental simulations of symbolic behavior. These simulations typically employ matching-to-sample procedures in a relational training task that aims to generate equivalence [...]

The current study compared cognitive defusion with other strategies in reducing the impact of experimentally induced negative emotional states. Sixty-seven undergraduates were assigned to one of three conditions (cognitive defusion, thought suppression, or control) and instructed in standardized approaches relevant to each condition before viewing film clips intended to elicit fear, sadness, and disgust. Participants then rated their experience of each emotion and completed a Stroop task intended to indirectly measure emotional arousal. While participants did not show any differences in their experience of emotions through self-report, significant differences on the Stroop task provided evidence of varying degrees of arousal between participants using defusion, suppression, and control strategies, with thought suppression and defusion showing the greatest reduction in arousal. These findings were retained after controlling for individual differences in negative affect and suggest that defusion is an effective strategy for reducing emotional distress but raise questions about the specific mechanisms involved in the process. Key words: cognitive defusion, acceptance and commitment therapy, thought suppression, emotional distress, clinical psychology, In the cognitive and behavioral traditions, several distinctive systems of therapy have emerged over the last several decades. More recently, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has developed from relational frame [...]

In a contextual cuing paradigm, we examined how memory for the spatial structure of a natural scene guides visual search. Participants searched through arrays of objects that were embedded within depictions of real-world scenes. If a repeated search array was associated with a single scene during study, then array repetition produced significant contextual cuing. However, expression of that learning was dependent on instantiating the original scene in which the learning occurred: Contextual cuing was disrupted when the repeated array was transferred to a different scene. Such scene-specific learning was not absolute, however. Under conditions of high scene variability, repeated search array were learned independently of the scene background. These data suggest that when a consistent environmental structure is available, spatial representations supporting visual search are organized hierarchically, with memory for functional subregions of an environment nested within a representation of the larger scene. Keywords: scene perception, visual search, visual memory, spatial memory, contextual cuing DOI: 10.1037/a0019257

Research has shown that automatic evaluations can be highly robust and difficult to change, highly malleable and easy to change, and highly context dependent. We tested a representational account of these disparate findings, which specifies the conditions under which automatic evaluations reflect (a) initially acquired information, (b) subsequently acquired, counterattitudinal information, or (c) a mixture of both. The account postulates that attention to contextual cues during the encoding of evaluative information determines whether this information is stored in a context-free representation or a contextualized representation. To the extent that attention to context cues is low during the encoding of initial information but is enhanced by exposure to expectancy-violating counterattitudinal information, initial experiences are stored in context-free representations, whereas counterattitudinal experiences are stored in contextualized representations. Hence, automatic evaluations tend to reflect the valence of counterattitudinal information only in the context in which this information was learned (occasion setting) and the valence of initial experiences in any other context (renewal effect). Four experiments confirmed these predictions, additionally showing that (a) the impact of initial experiences was reduced for automatic evaluations in novel contexts when context salience during the encoding of initial information was enhanced, (b) context effects were eliminated altogether when context salience during the encoding of counterattitudinal information was reduced, and (c) enhanced context salience during the encoding of counterattitudinal information produced context-dependent automatic evaluations even when there was no contingency between valence and contextual cues. Implications for automatic evaluation, learning theory, and interventions in applied settings are discussed. Keywords: automatic evaluation, context effects, evaluative learning, occasion setting, renewal effects DOI: 10.1037/a0020315

Two experiments explored the role of ambiguity on context processing by using relative stimulus validity designs in human predictive learning. Two groups of participants were trained with 2 stimulus compounds (XY and XZ). In Group TD (true discrimination), compound XY was always followed by the outcome, whereas compound XZ was never followed by it. In Group PD (pseudodiscrimination) the presentation of each compound was followed by the outcome in half of the trials. Experiment 1 found that pseudodiscrimination facilitated context dependency of reliable predictors regardless of whether they were trained in the same context in which pseudodiscrimination took place or in an alternative context in which true discrimination was conducted. Experiment 2 found context dependency of reliable predictors trained and tested in PD contexts, suggesting that the ambiguity in the meaning of the cues produced by pseudodiscrimination training is at least partially responsible for the context switch effects found in ambiguous situations in human predictive learning. Keywords: ambiguity, attention, context-switch effects, human predictive learning, relative stimulus validity DOI: 10.1037/a0018527

Four experiments were conducted to show that overlap or lack thereof between context and target ranges influences context effects in consumer judgments. Assimilation happens when the context and target ranges overlap, but contrast occurs when there is no overlap between the ranges.

In the present study, we examined the role of contextual factors in beliefs about remembering personal experiences. Specifically, we examined why individuals think that they remember experiences in everyday life and whether the reasons for remembering varied as a function of recall context, memory theme, and culture. In Experiment 1, we examined young adults' reported memories in two hypothetical contexts. In Experiment 2, memories were reported in response to cue words in European American and Chinese young adults. The results indicated that social sharing contexts appeared to favor social functions, whereas private reminiscence contexts tended to favor nonfunctional reasons for remembering and, to a lesser extent, directive functions. The European Americans reported more functional reasons for remembering, whereas the Chinese were more likely to report external cues as a reason for remembering. Finally, self functions were rarely reported. The results are interpreted in light of theories of memory functions and the role of contextual factors on remembering. doi: 10.3758/MC.38.4.461

Response-related mechanisms of multitasking were studied by analyzing simultaneous processing of responses in different modalities (i.e., crossmodal action). Participants responded to a single auditory stimulus with a saccade, a manual response (single-task conditions), or both (dual-task condition). We used a spatially incompatible stimulus--response mapping for one task, but not for the other. Critically, inverting these mappings varied temporal task overlap in dual-task conditions while keeping spatial incompatibility across responses constant. Unlike previous paradigms, temporal task overlap was manipulated without utilizing sequential stimulus presentation, which might induce strategic serial processing. The results revealed dual-task costs, but these were not affected by an increase of temporal task overlap. This finding is evidence for parallel response selection in multitasking. We propose that crossmodal action is processed by a central mapping-selection mechanism in working memory and that the dual-task costs are mainly caused by mapping-related crosstalk. doi: 10.3758/MC38.4.493

We investigated how emotionality of visual background context influenced perceptual ratings of faces. In two experiments participants rated how positive or negative a face, with a neutral expression (Experiment 1), or unambiguous emotional expression (happy/angry; Experiment 2), appeared when viewed overlaid onto positive, negative, or neutral background context scenes. Faces viewed in a positive context were rated as appearing more positive than when in a neutral or negative context, and faces in negative contexts were rated more negative than when in a positive or neutral context, regardless of the emotional expression portrayed. Notably, congruency of valence in face expression and background context significantly influenced face ratings. These findings suggest that human judgements of faces are relative, and significantly influenced by contextual factors. Keywords: face, context, emotion DOI: 10.1037/a0019139

A. Redish et al. (2007) proposed a reinforcement learning model of context-dependent learning and extinction in conditioning experiments, using the idea of 'state classification' to categorize new observations into states. In the current article, the authors propose an interpretation of this idea in terms of normative statistical inference. They focus on renewal and latent inhibition, 2 conditioning paradigms in which contextual manipulations have been studied extensively, and show that online Bayesian inference within a model that assumes an unbounded number of latent causes can characterize a diverse set of behavioral results from such manipulations, some of which pose problems for the model of Redish et al. Moreover, in both paradigms, context dependence is absent in younger animals, or if hippocampal lesions are made prior to training. The authors suggest an explanation in terms of a restricted capacity to infer new causes. Keywords: classical conditioning, renewal, latent inhibition, Bayesian, hippocampus DOI: 10.1037/a0017808

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) is a relatively new measure of implicit cognition that tests cognition as relational behavior instead of an associative activity and thus may provide a more specific measure of cognitive repertoires, including those for social biases, than better known implicit measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT). A small body of IRAP research provides tentative evidence for this measure's potential. The current study adds to this research by using the IRAP to assess for social biases for race, religion, gender, and obesity. Overall results show medium to large effect sizes for all conditions except obesity, as well as interesting trends at the trial-type level. These outcomes and possible future directions of IRAP research are discussed. Key words: Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure, implicit cognition, relational responding, social biases, response time measure, computer task, ********** The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP, pronounced 'I-rap'; Barnes-Holmes et al., 2006) has arrived only recently on the scene of implicit measures of cognition. These computerized tasks have been [...]

Ten-month-old infants persistently search for a hidden object at its initial hiding place even after observing it being hidden at another location. Recent evidence suggests that communicative cues from the experimenter contribute to the emergence of this perseverative search error. We replicated these results with dogs (Canis familiaris), who also commit more search errors in ostensive-communicative (in 75% of the total trials) than in noncommunicative (39%) or nonsocial (17%) hiding contexts. However, comparative investigations suggest that communicative signals serve different functions for dogs and infants, whereas human-reared wolves (Canis lupus) do not show doglike context-dependent differences of search errors. We propose that shared sensitivity to human communicative signals stems from convergent social evolution of the Homo and the Canis genera.

Some studies of nonhuman animals' metacognitive capacity encourage competing low-level, behavioral descriptions of trial--decline responses by animals in uncertainty-monitoring tasks. To evaluate the force of these behavioral descriptions, the authors presented 6 capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) with 2 density discrimination tasks between sparse and dense stimuli. In one task, difficult trials with stimuli near the middle of the density continuum could be declined through an 'uncertainty' response. In the other task, making a 'middle' response to the same stimuli was rewarded. In Experiment 1, capuchins essentially did not use the uncertainty response, but they did use the middle response. In Experiment 2, the authors replicated this result with 5 of 6 monkeys while equating the overall pace and reinforcement structure of the 2 tasks, although 1 monkey also showed appropriate use of the uncertainty response. These results challenge a purely associative interpretation of some uncertainty-monitoring performances by monkeys while sharpening the theoretical question concerning the nature of the psychological signal that occasions uncertainty responses. Keywords: uncertainty monitoring, metacognition, primate cognition, comparative cognition, capuchin monkeys

The implicit appeal of temptations may vary by the social and self-regulatory contexts in which they are encountered. In each of four studies, participants were subliminally primed with the name of someone associated with either drug use or drug abstinence, after which their own motives toward drug use were assessed. Results indicate that the appeal of this temptation often depended on participants' chronicity of indulgence (Study 1), relationship closeness with the tempter (Study 2), self-regulatory effectiveness (Study 3), and goal disengagement tendencies (Study 4). Although the influence of tempters may be automatic, it is also a dynamic process and these findings suggest that the appeal of temptations varies both situationally and motivationally. Keywords: temptation; goal priming; implicit social influence

Three studies examined the influence of comparison-referent exposure (i.e., the frequency with which one views comparison referents) on evaluations of the ability of a target person (either oneself or another person). In Experiment 1, participants performed a task and then viewed performances of both upward and downward referents. Participants who saw more performances by the upward referents than the downward referents evaluated their own performances less favorably did than participants who saw more performances by the downward referents than the upward referents. Experiment 2 produced similar findings, showing that comparison exposure also influences people's evaluations about someone other than themselves. In Experiment 3, comparison-exposure effects were significantly reduced when participants were instructed to think deliberatively about the comparison information, consistent with the idea that people typically rely on imprecise representations of comparison information even when they are capable of forming more precise representations from memory if motivated to do so. Keywords: social comparison; comparative judgments; ability evaluations

This experimental study investigated approach behavior toward opposite-sex others of similar versus dissimilar physical attractiveness. Furthermore, it tested the moderating effects of sex. Single participants interacted with confederates of high and low attractiveness. Observers rated their behavior in terms of relational investment (i.e., behavioral efforts related to the improvement of interaction fluency, communication of positive interpersonal affect, and positive self-presentation). As expected, men displayed more relational investment behavior if their own physical attractiveness was similar to that of the confederate. For women, no effects of attractiveness similarity on relational investment behavior were found. Results are discussed in the light of positive assortative mating, preferences for physically attractive mates, and sex differences in attraction-related interpersonal behaviors. Keywords: physical attractiveness; similarity; interpersonal behavior; mixed-sex dyads; assortative mating

One parallel between humans and most songbirds is the fact that young require social interactions with an adult to acquire specific vocalizations. Songbirds are considered good models for comparative studies, although reports to date concern almost exclusively male songbirds. In addition, adult influence on vocal communication is generally investigated only in restricted social contexts (usually dyads). Here, the authors analyzed song learning and spatial associations among young female starlings that were maintained for 1 year in dyads (1 adult, 1 young), triads (2 adults, 1 young) or a larger group (7 young, 2 adults). Segregation by age was seen in the triads and in the larger group. The influence of adults (proportion of songs copied from adults) decreased as the young adult ratio increased. Unusual temporal features were observed in young maintained in triads and young neglected copying adult songs in the presence of peers. These results are among the first to explore the circumstances under which females learn and from whom they learn. They also add new insight to a wide range of questions about social influences on learning. Keywords: female starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, social context, song learning, social preferences

The purpose of this article is to promote an open systems perspective on team research. The authors develop a model of team boundary activities: boundary spanning, buffering, and reinforcement. The model examines the relationship between these boundary activities and team performance, the moderating effects of organizational contextual factors, and the mediating effect of team psychological safety on the boundary work-performance relationship. These relationships were empirically tested with data collected from 64 software development teams. Boundary spanning, buffering, and boundary reinforcement were found to relate to team performance and psychological safety. Both relationships are moderated by the team's task uncertainty and resource scarcity. The implications of the findings are offered for future research and practice. Keywords: boundary work, boundary activities, team effectiveness, software teams

Previous research has revealed, across a number of contexts, that stigmatized individuals are the recipients of interpersonal discrimination (e.g., M. R. Hebl, J. B. Foster, L. M. Mannix, & J. F. Dovidio, 2002). Such discrimination has been linked to a number of negative outcomes in the workplace, both for stigmatized individuals and for organizations as a whole (see, e.g., E. B. King, J. L. Shapiro, M. R. Hebl, S. L. Singletary, & S. Turner, 2006; C. O. Word, M. P. Zanna, & J. Cooper, 1974). The current research examines 3 individual-level compensatory strategies aimed at reducing interpersonal discrimination. Results reveal that compensatory strategies are successful in reducing interpersonal discrimination in job application contexts and that such strategies uniquely benefit stigmatized individuals. Keywords: interpersonal discrimination, diversity, discrimination redaction

The authors examined contextual dynamics and individual differences as moderators of the relationship between goal-performance discrepancies and time allocation among competing demands. As hypothesized, a complex 3-way interaction was observed among environmental volatility, relative progress, and time on resource allocation. When goal progress was determined only by the performers' actions (low environmental volatility), greater time was allocated to the least discrepant goal early on and to the most discrepant goal toward the end of available time. In contrast, when goal progress was also influenced by unpredictable external factors (high environmental volatility), greater time was allocated to the most discrepant goal early on and to the least discrepant goal as the deadline neared. Individual differences in goal orientation further influenced this relationship within a volatile context, with these relationships also varying across time. Under such conditions, those with a strong mastery orientation allocated more time to toward the most discrepant task, whereas those with a strong avoidance orientation allocated more time to the goal closest to being attained. The implications for theory and research on dynamic time allocation are discussed. Keywords: multiple goals, resource allocation, time, goal-performance discrepancies, goal orientation

When reading a story or watching a film, comprehenders construct a series of representations in order to understand the events depicted. Discourse comprehension theories and a recent theory of perceptual event segmentation both suggest that comprehenders monitor situational features such as characters' goals, to update these representations at natural boundaries in activity. However, the converging predictions of these theories had previously not been tested directly. Two studies provided evidence that changes in situational features such as characters, their locations, their interactions with objects, and their goals are related to the segmentation of events in both narrative texts and films. A 3rd study indicated that clauses with event boundaries are read more slowly than are other clauses and that changes in situational features partially mediate this relation. A final study suggested that the predictability of incoming information influences reading rate and possibly event segmentation. Taken together, these results suggest that processing situational changes during comprehension is an important determinant of how one segments ongoing activity into events and that this segmentation is related to the control of processing during reading. Keywords: situation models, event perception, text comprehension Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015305.supp

When people are asked to assess or compare the value of experienced or hypothetical events, one of the most intriguing observations is their apparent insensitivity to event duration. The authors propose that duration insensitivity occurs when stimuli are evaluated in isolation because they typically lack comparison information. People should be able to evaluate the duration of stimuli in isolation, however, when stimuli are familiar and evoke comparison information. The results of 3 experiments support the hypothesis. Participants were insensitive to the duration of hypothetical (Experiment 1) and real (Experiment 2) unfamiliar experiences but sensitive to the duration of familiar experiences. In Experiment 3, participants were insensitive to the duration of an unfamiliar noise when it was unlabeled but sensitive to its duration when it was given a familiar label (i.e., a telephone ring). Rather than being a unique phenomenon, duration neglect (and perhaps other forms of scope insensitivity) appears to be a particular case of insensitivity to unfamiliar attributes. Keywords: duration neglect, magnitude estimation, evaluability, joint and single evaluation, judgment and decision making

The capacity to anticipate and prepare for future events is thought to be critical for cognitive control. Dominant accounts of cognitive control treat the developing system as merely a weaker version of the adult system, progressively strengthening over time. Using the AX Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) in combination with high-resolution pupillometry, we find that whereas 8-year-old children resemble adults in their proactive use of cognitive control, 3.5-year-old children exhibit a qualitatively different, reactive form of cognitive control, responding to events only as they unfold and retrieving information from memory as needed in the moment. These results demonstrate the need to reconsider the origins of cognitive control and the basis for children's behaviors across domains. cognitive development | context processing | pupillometry | reactive control | proactive control

Musical pitch-time relations were explored by investigating the effect of temporal variation on pitch perception. In Experiment 1, trained musicians heard a standard tone followed by a tonal context and then a comparison tone. They then performed one of two tasks. In the cognitive task, they indicated whether the comparison tone was in the key of the context. In the perceptual task, they judged whether the comparison tone was higher or lower than the standard tone. For both tasks, the comparison tone occurred early, on time, or late with respect to temporal expectancies established by the context. Temporal variation did not affect accuracy in either task. Experiment 2 used the perceptual task and varied the pitch structure by employing either a tonal or an atonal context. Temporal variation did not affect accuracy for tonal contexts, but did for atonal contexts. Experiment 3 replicated these results and controlled potential confounds. We argue that tonal contexts bias attention toward pitch and eliminate effects of temporal variation, whereas atonal contexts do not, thus fostering pitch-time interactions.

Can readers exert control (albeit unconsciously) over activation at particular loci in the reading system? The authors addressed this issue in 4 experiments in which participants read target words aloud and the factors of prime--target relation (semantic, repetition), context (related, unrelated), stimulus quality (bright, dim), and relatedness proportion (RP; high, low) were manipulated. In the high RP condition (RP = .5), an interaction between semantic context and stimulus quality was observed in which low stimulus quality slowed unrelated targets more than related ones, replicating previous work. In contrast, the low RP condition (RP = .25) yielded additive effects of semantic context and stimulus quality. However, when low RP was examined within the context of repetition priming, context and stimulus quality once again interacted. These results are discussed in the context of a widely endorsed framework with the addition of the central assumption that there is control over feedback between various levels. Keywords: lexical activation, priming, contextual control, relatedness proportion

From an ecological perspective, daily activities are both a cause and a consequence of youth development. Research on youth activities directs attention to the processes through which daily activities may have an impact on youth, including (a) providing chances to learn and practice skills, (b) serving as a forum for identity development, (c) affording opportunities to build social ties, (d) connecting youth to social institutions, and (e) keeping youth from engaging in other kinds of activities. Youth's daily activities, in turn, both influence and are influenced by the multilayered ecology within which their lives are embedded, an ecology that ranges from the proximal contexts of everyday life (e.g., family, peer group) to the larger political, economic, legal, and cultural contexts of the larger society. The article concludes with consideration of methodological issues and directions for research on the media and youth development. Keywords: daily activities; adolescence; family context; development; ecology; media

Although the influence of reinforcement history is a theoretical focus of behavior analysis, the specific behavioral effects of reinforcement history have received relatively little attention in applied research and practice. We examined the potential effects of reinforcement history by reviewing nonhuman, human operant, and applied research and interpreted the findings in relation to possible applied significance. The focus is on reinforcement history effects in the context of reinforcement schedules commonly used either to strengthen behavior (e.g., interval schedules) or commonly used to decrease behavior (e.g., extinction). DESCRIPTORS: extraexperimental history, human operant, reinforcement history, transition states, translational research

This study contributes to literature examining the salience of ecological variables by investigating relationships between stress, coping, community resources, and residential nature. One hundred thirty-three low-income women in mid-Michigan reported on institutional resource availability, recent stressful events, and preferred coping styles. Research assistants rated yards surrounding respondents' homes for the presence of natural features. African American mothers reported greater usage of both emotion-focused and active coping strategies compared to European American mothers. Availability of community resources was found to predict significantly to the use of active and emotion-focused coping strategies, and stress intensity and natural resources predicted significantly to avoidant coping strategies. Further development of the Residential Natural Resources Inventory and investigation of the variance of environmental stressors, resources, and coping responses within racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups are recommended. Keywords: women; mothers; low income; coping; stress; natural environment; community resources; poverty

Two experiments examined how Dutch listeners deal with the effects of connected-speech processes, specifically those arising from word-final /t/ reduction (e.g., whether Dutch [tas] is tas, bag, or a reduced-/t/version of tast, touch). Eye movements of Dutch participants were tracked as they looked at arrays containing 4 printed words, each associated with a geometrical shape. Minimal pairs (e.g., tas/tast) were either both above (boven) or both next to (naast) different shapes. Spoken instructions (e.g., 'Klik op het woordje tas boven de ster,' [Click on the word bag above the star]) thus became unambiguous only on their final words. Prior to disambiguation, listeners' fixations were drawn to/t/-final words more when boven than when naast followed the ambiguous sequences. This behavior reflects Dutch speech-production data:/t/ is reduced more before /b/ than before /n/. We thus argue that probabilistic knowledge about the effect of following context in speech production is used prelexically in perception to help resolve lexical ambiguities caused by continuous-speech processes. Keywords: spoken-word recognition, continuous-speech processes, /t/-reduction, eye tracking, Dutch

Since M. M. Chun and Y. Jiang's (1998) original study, a large body of research based on the contextual cuing paradigm has shown that the visuocognitive system is capable of capturing certain regularities in the environment in an implicit way. The present study investigated whether regularities based on the semantic category membership of the context can be learned implicitly and whether that learning depends on attention. The contextual cuing paradigm was used with lexical displays in which the semantic category of the contextual words either did or did not predict the target location. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that implicit contextual cuing effects can be extended to semantic category regularities. Experiments 3 and 4 indicated an implicit contextual cuing effect when the predictive context appeared in an attended color but not when the predictive context appeared in an ignored color. However, when the previously ignored context suddenly became attended, it immediately facilitated performance. In contrast, when the previously attended context suddenly became ignored, no benefit was observed. Results suggest that the expression of implicit semantic knowledge depends on attention but that latent learning can nevertheless take place outside the attentional field. Keywords: contextual cuing, implicit learning, semantic, selective attention

This article presents the secondary validation of the Brief Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (Brief ARSMA-II) for use with children--carried out using two samples of Mexican-descent children (ages = 9-11) from two states (N = 295). The Brief ARSMA-II was originally normed on adolescents and adults but has been validated and used with children. Ethnic identity development perspectives suggest that the interpretation of scores derived from acculturation measures normed on adolescents and adults may not extend accurately to children. Convergent validity and differential discrimination between groups were examined using scores on the Brief ARSMA-II; scores on an acculturation measure designed for the present study, the Things About Me (TAM); and traditional proxy measures of acculturation. Results from this study do not support the use of the Brief ARSMA-II with children. The importance of considering contextual effects in the interpretation of scores of children's acculturation experience is discussed. Keywords: acculturation; acculturation theory; acculturation measures; identity development

Although one of the main reasons for the interest in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) is the potential consequences of these behaviors, no study has been reported that summarizes the research regarding the relationships between OCBs and their outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a meta-analytic examination of the relationships between OCBs and a variety of individual- and organizational-level outcomes. Results, based on 168 independent samples (N = 51,235 individuals), indicated that OCBs are related to a number of individual-level outcomes, including managerial ratings of employee performance, reward allocation decisions, and a variety of withdrawal-related criteria (e.g., employee turnover intentions, actual turnover, and absenteeism). In addition, OCBs were found to be related (k = 38; N = 3,611 units) to a number of organizational-level outcomes (e.g., productivity, efficiency, reduced costs, customer satisfaction, and unit-level turnover). Of interest, somewhat stronger relationships were observed between OCBs and unit-level performance measures in longitudinal studies than in cross-sectional studies, providing some evidence that OCBs are causally related to these criteria. The implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed. Keywords: organizational citizenship behaviors, contextual performance, meta-analysis, customer satisfaction, withdrawal

Pigeons' pecks produced grain under progressive ratio (PR) schedules, whose response requirements increased systematically within sessions. Experiment 1 compared arithmetic (AP) and geometric (GP) progressions. Response rates increased as a function of the component ratio requirement, then decreased linearly (AP) or asymptotically (GP). Experiment 2 found the linear decrease in AP rates to be relatively independent of step size. Experiment 3 showed pausing to be controlled by the prior component length, which predicted the differences between PR and regressive ratio schedules found in Experiment 4. When the longest component ratios were signaled by different key colors, rates at moderate ratios increased, demonstrating control by forthcoming context. Models for response rate and pause duration based on Bizo and Killeen (1997) described performance on AP schedules; GP schedules required an additional parameter representing the contextual reinforcement. Keywords: context, fixed ratio, mathematical model, progressive ratio, reinforcement schedules Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0012497

ABSTRACT. The elaborative-processing and forgetting-reconstruction hypotheses are the 2 principal explanations for the contextual interference (CI) effect. The present authors' purpose was to identify which of these 2 hypotheses better [...]

Studies of polysemy are few in number and are contradictory. Some have found differences between polysemy and homonymy (L. Frazier & K. Rayner, 1990), and others have found similarities (D. K. Klein & G. Murphy, 2001). The authors investigated this issue using the methods of D. K. Klein and G. Murphy (2001), in whose study participants judged whether ambiguous words embedded in word pairs (e.g., tasty chicken) made sense as a function of a cooperating, conflicting, or neutral context. The ambiguous words were independently rated as having low, moderate, or highly overlapping senses to approximate a continuum from homonymy to metonymic polysemy. The effects of meaning dominance were examined. Words with highly overlapping meanings (e.g., metonymy) showed reduced effects of context and dominance compared with words with moderately or low overlapping meanings (e.g., metaphorical polysemy and homonymy). These results suggest that the comprehension of ambiguous words is mediated by the semantic overlap of alternative senses/meanings. Keywords: lexical ambiguity, homonymy, polysemy, semantic processing, context effects

The present research investigated the effects of physical context change and perceptual learning on generalization. In a video game, participants learned to suppress their mouse-clicking behavior in the presence of one stimulus (AX). Generalization was observed between the AX stimulus and another stimulus (BX) that was designed to be similar. When testing was conducted in a context different from that in which AX was used in training, responding to AX was attenuated, and responding to BX was enhanced. That is, the generalization gradient flattened. The latter effect was only evident in groups for which generalization had been reduced through a preexposure manipulation believed to produce perceptual learning. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the increase in generalization observed in the first experiment was due to the context change between the preexposure and test rather than to a change between the conditioning and test contexts. Implications for flattening generalization gradients and mechanisms of perceptual learning are discussed.

Attitudes toward posthumous harvesting of reproductive material and beliefs about medical professionals' obligation to assist were examined using a multiple segment factorial vignette survey design with 407 randomly selected respondents flora a southern state. Attitudes and beliefs were primarily shaped by the vignette couple's marital status, parental support, and evidence of the deceased's wishes, as well as by respondents' religiosity and level of education. Three primary groups of respondents were identified: libertarians emphasized the survivor's rights, consentualists were skeptical until hearing that the deceased approved of the procedure, and persistent dissenters retained their negative attitudes despite the deceased's known wishes in favor of posthumoas harvesting. Overall, attitudes and obligation beliefs were primarily in favor of posthumous harvesting when contextual circumstances deemed suitable were portrayed.

The authors present a new model of free recall on the basis of M. W. Howard and M. J. Kahana's (2002a) temporal context model and M. Usher and J. L. McClelland's (2001) leaky-accumulator decision model. In this model, contextual drift gives rise to both short-term and long-term recency effects, and contextual retrieval gives rise to short-term and long-term contiguity effects. Recall decisions are controlled by a race between competitive leaky accumulators. The model captures the dynamics of immediate, delayed, and continual distractor free recall, demonstrating that dissociations between short- and long-term recency can naturally arise from a model in which an internal contextual state is used as the sole cue for retrieval across time scales. Keywords: recency, contiguity, free recall, context

Two eyetracking-during-listening experiments showed frequency and context effects on fixation probability for pictures representing multiple meanings of homophones. Participants heard either an imperative sentence instructing them to look at a homophone referent (Experiment 1) or a declarative sentence that was either neutral or biased toward the homophone's subordinate meaning (Experiment 2). At homophone onset in both experiments, the participants viewed four pictures: (1) a referent of one homophone meaning, (2) a shape competitor for a nonpictured homophone meaning, and (3) two unrelated filler objects. In Experiment 1, meaning dominance affected looks to both the homophone referent and the shape competitor. In Experiment 2, as compared with neutral contexts, subordinate-biased contexts lowered the fixation probability for shape competitors of dominant meanings, but shape competitors still attracted more looks than would be expected by chance. We discuss the consistencies and discrepancies of these findings with the selective access and reordered access theories of lexical ambiguity resolution.