Zeitschrift fur experimentelle Psychologie : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychologie最新文献

Pavlovian conditioning in animals is often evaluated by means of transfer of control experiments. With human subjects, however, only very few studies have been conducted and the outcomes were often not in accordance with theoretical explanations based on studies with animals. A theoretical framework is presented that tries to integrate the results of the human conditioning paradigm and the animal conditioning paradigm as well, with reference to the well-known Yerkes-Dodson law. The experimental study with human subjects (N = 24) confirmed the predictions out of this framework, when a procedure similar to animal research is applied.

Within the framework of the "response styles theory" Nolen-Hoeksema (1991) argues that depressive episodes are prolonged or intensified by symptom-focused rumination. In contrast, depressed mood can be reduced by responses which focus the attention away from the symptoms of depression and its possible causes and consequences. In the present study these assumptions were examined under conditions derived from a critical analysis of earlier empirical studies. 70 students took part in the experiment. Depressed (n = 30) and non-depressed (n = 40) subjects were randomly assigned to either a symptom-focused or a distracting task. Self-report data were used to compare pre- and post-task mood. Results are mainly consistent with predictions. However, in contrast to the findings of Nolen-Hoeksema and her colleagues, no significant increase in depressed mood was observed in the symptom-focused condition and the empirical effect in the distracting condition was weaker than in previous studies using the same distracting task. These inconsistent findings are attributed to differences in the experimental settings. Theoretical and methodical implications are discussed.

This study investigated hemispheric asymmetries in repetition priming (Experiment 1) and associative priming (Experiment 2) in visual word recognition. Participants performed speeded lexical decisions for foveally presented target words that could be preceded by prime words presented to the left (LVF) or right (RVF) visual field. Experiment 1 demonstrated larger repetition priming in reaction times when prime words were presented to the RVF (left hemisphere). In contrast, no repetition priming was observed for pseudowords. Hemispheric asymmetries in word repetition priming may therefore reflect the superiority of the left hemisphere in activating lexical representations. Experiment 2 did not find any hemispheric asymmetries in associative priming. The results suggest that repetition priming and associative priming act on different levels in word recognition, for which different hemispheric asymmetries exist.

The crossover effect (Mani & Johnson-Laird, 1982) predicts that a mental model is more likely to be available after reading a determinate description of a spatial scene than after reading an indeterminate description whereas the reverse should apply to the propositional text representation. Although attempts to replicate this pattern were less than convincing, the crossover effect has often been stated as evidence justifying the differentiation of propositional representations and mental models. In an experiment with 44 adult, German-speaking participants, it was investigated whether the crossover effect is moderated by individual differences in spatial imagery ability. Participants read 6 determinate and 6 indeterminate descriptions of schematic, non-schematic, or schema-incompatible spatial scenes. Recognition data showed a crossover effect only in participants with lower ability. In the high-ability group the propositional text representation was less available than in the low-ability group, independent of whether or not a mental model could be constructed. The results explain why earlier replications might have failed. Consequences for current mental model theories of text comprehension are discussed.

Collecting data for multidimensional scaling (MDS) by pair comparisons is common practice in research. The ranking task as an alternative promises different practical advantages. However, its validity is uncertain. In this study, the validity of nonmetric MDS of ranking data is examined. Twelve kindergarten children, high-scholars and students judged the similarity of seven colors using rankings. The validity of the MDS-results was judged by comparing them with an arrangement of colors derived from the Munsell system, which had been validated in former studies. The MDS of the ranking data for high-scholars and students, but not for kindergarten children proved to be valid. Possible causes for the latter will be discussed.

It was tested whether the "situation model" framework can be applied to research on coping processes. Therefore, subjects (N = 80) were presented with short episodes (formulated in a self-referent manner) about everyday situations which potentially ended in a negative way (e.g., failures in achievement situations; losses etc.). The first half of each episode contained a critical sentence with emotionally relieving information. Given a negative ending, this information should be automatically activated due to its relieving effect. A two-factorial design was used. First, a phrase from the critical sentence was presented for recognition either after a negative ending, a positive ending, or before the ending. Second, with minor changes a control sentence (with an additionally distressing character) was constructed for each potentially relieving sentence. As hypothesized, an interaction emerged: Given a negative ending, the error rate was significantly lower for relieving information than for the control version, whereas there was no difference if the test phrase was presented before the end or after a positive end.

According to Weeks and Proctor (1990), stimulus-response compatibility effects with vertically oriented stimuli and horizontally oriented responses are a result of coding stimuli and responses with respect to their salient features. The corresponding asymmetries in salience are assumed to hold for both verbal and spatial codes. In contrast, Umiltá (1991) argued that these effects are restricted to verbal coding. Experiment 1 tested the coding specificity of the orthogonal compatibility effect by instructing the S-R mapping either verbally or pictorially, varying the stimulus-response mapping unpredictably within experimental blocks. In Experiment 2, the sequences of trials with changed and unchanged mappings were controlled more extensively. Experiment 3 employed incomplete instructions by explicitly denoting the mapping of one stimulus to one response only. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 are consistent with the assumption of a verbal mediation of the orthogonal compatibility effect under investigation, whereas Experiment 3 shows that it is not verbal coding as such that is responsible for the occurrence of the effect.

The preception and orienting response (OR) reinstatement hypotheses are alternative explanations for the reduced responding to predictable as compared to unpredictable aversive stimuli. To test differential predictions from both theories, 60 subjects were presented with 30 stimuli varying in intensity (60 dB(A) vs 100 dB(A)) and predictability (constant vs variable warning) in a 2 x 2 between subject design. Impact ratings, SCR and heart rate were recorded as dependent variables. According to the preception hypothesis a steep and early decrease of responding in the predictable 100 dB(A) condition was expected, whereas according to the OR reinstatement hypothesis a slower decrease with differences between the predictable and unpredictable stimuli at both intensities was hypothesized. To control for response interference only those trials were selected for the analysis for which the interval was the same in the variable and constant warning condition. Results revealed an intensity effect for the SCRs and impact ratings, but no effect of predictability. Although for the heart rate magnitude the intensity by predictability was found in favor of preception, this result appeared to be due to differences in sensitivity between groups during the warning interval. It was concluded that neither hypothesis proved to provide a valid account for the reduced responding to predictable aversive stimuli, but that the data seemed to be most consistent with a safety signal interpretation. Time estimation was considered to be a crucial variable. It is suggested that beyond mere signalling, additional beneficial effects of predictability can be demonstrated in studies where procedures are used which make time estimation unnecessary.

This study examined the effects of the strength of the connection between elements of an event schema on the surprise reaction elicited by a schema-discrepant event sequence. The strength of the connection between schema elements was manipulated by the probability of an event in an event sequence given that a certain sequence had preceded that event. Strong connections between schema elements were expected to result from repeated exposure to an invariant event sequence. Weak connections were expected to result from repeated exposure to a variable event sequence. The results showed that an unexpected deviation from a strong connection led to a longer reaction time delay to a probe stimulus as compared to a deviation from a weak connection. This finding is consistent with the assumption that the modification of a strong connection is more effortful than the modification of a weak connection. Furthermore, there was a tendency towards higher surprise ratings when the unexpected event deviated from a strong connection, indicating that the discrepancy is more severe. A second experiment showed that the schema had changed in response to the first presentation of the schema-discrepant event: A second presentation of the schema-discrepant event was rated as less surprising and led to a shorter reaction time delay as compared to the first presentation. Furthermore, the results indicated that the specific circumstances of the first presentation are taken into account when the schema is changed.

Lay people's evaluation of environmental risks is often based on mass media descriptions of single disastrous events. This article analyzes the cognitive and emotional reactions towards those reports. We assume that characteristic features of the events determine the cognitive evaluation and the rise of the emotions anger and sadness. An intuitive, spontaneous, and schema-based evaluation process is postulated that entails a coherent perception and appraisal of an event. The theoretical assumptions are formally specified and implemented in the computer model ITERA (Intuitive Thinking in Environmental Risk Appraisal). In three experimental studies, we presented manipulated descriptions about negative environmental events. The effects of three experimental variables (knowledge about the riskiness of an action, higher goal of the actor, voluntarity of the actor) were compared with the model's predictions. For anger we found a good correspondence between the empirical results and the model's data. The predicted coherence effects of the cognitive appraisal were confirmed to a great extent. Results for sadness did not conform with model predictions.