Lionel Standing

Learning 10000 pictures

Four experiments are reported which examined memory capacity and retrieval speed for pictures and for words. Single-trial learning tasks were employed throughout, with memory performance assessed by forced-choice recognition, recall measures or choice reaction-time tasks. The main experimental findings were: (1) memory capacity, as a function of the amount of material presented, follows a general power law with a characteristic exponent for each task; (2) pictorial material obeys this power law and shows an overall superiority to verbal material. The capacity of recognition memory for pictures is almost limitless, when measured under appropriate conditions; (3) when the recognition task is made harder by using more alternatives, memory capacity stays constant and the superiority of pictures is maintained; (4) picture memory also exceeds verbal memory in terms of verbal recall; comparable recognition/recall ratios are obtained for pictures, words and nonsense syllables; (5) verbal memory shows a higher retrieval speed than picture memory, as inferred from reaction-time measures. Both types of material obey a power law, when reaction-time is measured for various sizes of learning set, and both show very rapid rates of memory search. From a consideration of the experimental results and other data it is concluded that the superiority of the pictorial mode in recognition and free recall learning tasks is well established and cannot be attributed to methodological artifact.

Fast Music Causes Fast Drinking

For 40 undergraduate women asked to rate flavour of a soda, fast music significantly decreased drinking time.

Gender differences in recognition memory for faces and cars: Evidence for the interest hypothesis

Two experiments investigated gender differences in recognition memory for faces and cars. Stimuli were line drawings of cars and of adult men and women (Experiment 1) and photographs of real cars and of real boys and girls (Experiment 2). In both experiments, performance was better on faces than on cars. Regarding recognition memory for men’s faces, in Experiment 1, men’s scores were higher than women’s scores. However, in Experiment 2, men recognized more cars than did women, and women recognized more children than did men. Results are generally consistent with the hypothesis that memory reflects male and female interest in, and/or differential familiarity for, different kinds of material.

VERBAL MEMORY ELICITED BY AMBIENT ODOR

This study examined whether an ambient odor can act as a contextual cue for retrieval of verbal stimuli. Subjects (N = 47) learned a list of 24 words while exposed to one of two odors (either jasmine incense or Lauren perfume) and subsequently relearned the list with either the same or the alternative odor present. Superior memory for the word list was found when the odor present during the relearning session was the same one that had been present at the time of initial learning, thereby demonstrating context-dependent memory. There were no differences in initial learning between the two odor conditions. No differences in pleasantness or intensity were found between the odors.

Satiation effects with reversible figures.

Three experiments were performed to examine the rate at which reversible perspective figures (Necker cubes) undergo apparent reversal, as a function of selected stimulus variables. 100 subjects were instructed not to inhibit or to promote reversals of perspective, but to remain neutral. The data indicated: (1) an incomplete cube reverses less frequently than does a corresponding complete figure, (2) two adjacent cubes reverse in synchrony when of equal luminance but often out of phase when differing in luminance, (3) a shift of the cubes retinal position causes its reversal rate to drop to baseline level. These results suggest that the reversal effect increases over time due to a localized rather than general process, and are thus compatible with a sensory satiation model of perceptual alternation.

EMPIRICAL STATISTICS: IV. ILLUSTRATING MEEHL'S SIXTH LAW OF SOFT PSYCHOLOGY: EVERYTHING CORRELATES WITH EVERYTHING

A 135 × 135 matrix of correlations was computed, using educational/biographical data on 2,058 subjects, to find the background level of statistically significant correlations, or Meehls ‘crud factor.’ Every one of the 135 variables, save ID number, displayed more statistically significant correlations with the other variables than could be predicted from chance. With alpha set at .05 (two-tailed), a given variable correlated significantly on average with 41% of the other variables, although the absolute magrutude of the correlations averaged only .07. The results reinforce Meehls 1990 criticisms of over-reliance on significance levels for correlational data.

Effects of noise upon introverts and extroverts

The effects of noise upon arousal, mood, and cognitive performance were examined in two experiments employing selected groups of introverts and extroverts as subjects. In the first experiments, white noise at 60 dB produced higher physiological activation in introverts, but not in extroverts, as predicted from Eysenck’s theory of personality. Likewise, performance in a comprehension task was impaired in introverts but not in extroverts. Extroverts were also shown to display more subjective deactivation under noise, and to have greater habitual tolerance for noisy real-world environments. In the second experiment, exposure to patterned noise increased state anxiety in both introverts and extroverts, but did not affect aggressiveness.

Validity of an Intuitive Personality Scale: Personal Responsibility as a Predictor of Academic Achievement

Fifty undergraduate students (27 female, 23 male) completed measures of verbal intelligence and locus of control, together with the Responsibility scale of the California Psychological Inventory and a student-written scale of Personal Responsibility. On the basis of correlational and multiple-regression analyses, it was found that Intelligence and Personal Responsibility were jointly the most efficient predictors of a subjects mean course grade, and that the latter was the best single predictor. These results add further support to Jacksons (1971) contention that naive item writers can create personality scales of equivalent or greater validity than more formal empirically-derived scales.

The effects of environmental noise on anxiety level.

Forty-five male and female undergraduates were exposed to low (43 dB), medium (61 dB), or high (75 dB) levels of ambient white noise for 30 minutes. Subsequent testing with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory revealed that mean situational (or state) anxiety was significantly elevated for the 75 dB group, while the variability of these scores increased for both the 61 and 75 dB groups. Habitual (or trait) anxiety measures, however, were not affected by noise. Further testing indicated that essentially the same anxiety/noise relationship occurred in selected subgroups of S s with extreme scores on trait anxiety, neuroticism, extraversion, lie, and intelligence scales. Edsells data are confirmed and extended by these results, which indicate that even quite moderate environmental noise levels can have undersirable psychological consequences among a wide range of individual S s.

How Much Do Accurate Instructions Raise Scores on a Timed Test

This study assessed the performance increment obtainable with small changes in test instructions, using the Digit Symbol subtest of the original Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Scores were raised by 47% (N = 60) under more explicit instructions than the standard instructions.