The power of cognitive psychology lies in the promise of cognitive technology.
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The power of cognitive psychology lies in the promise of cognitive technology.
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Abstracts - Fall 1999
THEORETICAL AND RESEARCH ARTICLES 4 Applied Aspects of Source Monitoring 18 Why are there Twelve Inches in a Foot? 26 The Role of Memory in Aesthetic Responses 29 Scale Simplification of Expectations for Survival: Cognitive Ability and the Quality of Survey Responses 39 Memory Rehabilitation Strategies and Cognitive Behavioural Techniques After a Brain Injury 46 Review of the Nature of Expertise in Professional Acting Applied Aspects of Source Monitoring Many everyday activities require people to remember the origin of information. Remembering the source of information is essential to such diverse tasks as reciting a poem, composing an argument, and relating an anecdote at a party. The process of remembering the origin of one's memories is called Source Monitoring. Using the Source Monitoring Framework (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993), our aim is to describe how source judgments are involved explicitly or implicitly in several applied situations. We discuss source errors that arise in eyewitness testimony, unconscious plagiarism, false confessions, confabulations, and recovered memories. We argue that source monitoring is also involved in such diverse applications as the representation of fiction (versus facts) in memory, the effectiveness of persuasive communications, and illusory truth effects. For each problem, we discuss how source monitoring is involved, and when source errors occur. From knowledge about source monitoring, we can predict situations which might increase source errors. In some cases, procedural changes aimed at reducing source errors are recommended.
Why are there Twelve Inches in a Foot? Many of the representational systems that are widely used to facilitate the performance of cognitive tasks were not designed in the usual sense but have evolved over many centuries. How such systems came to be what they are, and how well they serve their purposes, are questions of psychological interest. This paper focuses on the common system of linear measure - inch, foot, yard - and, in particular, on the question of why the foot is divided into 12 inches. Factors that could have contributed to the development of this scheme are proposed and its utility relative to others that might have been used is discussed.
The Role of Memory in Aesthetic Response The contents of memory may affect aesthetic response in multiple ways. Two such possibilities have received recent attention. One model predicts that highly typical instances will be better liked than atypical ones. Conversely, another model predicts that somewhat novel stimuli will be most attractive. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate these two theoretical positions. Two possible measures of typicality/novelty, degree of realism and similarity to other paintings, were obtained for 38 paintings, as well as estimates of tension, complexity, orderliness and activity. Seventy-eight per cent of the variance in Liking judgments by 43 subjects was predicted by a linear multiple-regression equation containing Realism, Tension and Complexity as predictors. Similarity played a minor role in predicting Liking for one subset of subjects. Only Tension and Complexity were predictive for another subset. Memorial, perceptual and emotional factors combined to determine aesthetic pleasure, although individual differences also played a role.
Scale Simplification of Expectations for Survival: Cognitive Ability and the Quality of Survey Responses This paper explores the extent to which the data quality of survey questions that use response scales designed to measure event probabilities are affected by the cognitive ability of respondents and the tendency to simplify responses to the scale's extremes and midpoint. Analyses focus on an 11-point scale used in the Health and Retirement Study for estimates about the likelihood to live to 75 and 85 years. Respondents who are lower in cognitive ability provide simplification responses more often than respondents higher in cognitive ability. Both lower levels of cognitive ability and the providing of simplification responses are associated with the tendency to respond illogically by not providing a higher probability to live to 75 years than to 85 years. Nevertheless, simplification responses have only limited effects on other measures of data quality as responses mirror actuarial life tables in the aggregate, and life expectancy responses covary with other survey variables that are associated with mortality. A couple of factors mitigate the observation of poorer data quality associated with scale simplification: some simplification responses reflect a careful choice taken after consideration of the entire range of response options, and that for respondents lower in cognitive ability, scale simplification may actually assist in providing better quality data. Implications of the results for improving methodologies of asking probability-based questions are discussed.
Memory Rehabilitation Strategies and Cognitive Behavioural Techniques After a Brain Injury Memory deficits are among the most common and persistent problems following brain injury. Two approaches have been used in the field of cognitive rehabilitation to address this concern: compensation of memory using cognitive prosthesis (e.g., tape recorders, day timers, etc.) and restoration or recuperation of memory abilities (e.g., via computer generated drills). Irrespective of utilized approach, recent literature is now acknowledging the importance of integrating cognitive rehabilitation of memory with learning theories and principles. This paper makes the case for the application of cognitive rehabilitation strategies in conjunction with cognitive behavioural techniques as integral components of effective memory rehabilitation after a brain injury.
Review of: Nature of Expertise in Professional Acting For nearly 25 years expertise has been considered an important testing ground for theories of cognition. It is therefore surprising, as the authors of this monograph point out, that except for their own research, there are virtually no studies on the cognitive processes of professional actors. Yet actors not only routinely memorize hours worth of verbal material in a very short time but they retrieve it verbatim along with the accompanying gestures, movements, thoughts, and emotions of the characters. For this reason, the report of an 8-year investigation of the learning methods of actors by a husband and wife team consisting of a professional actor, director, playwright, and a cognitive psychologist is a most welcome event. The book covers both previously published and more recent unpublished studies.
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