Ulric Neisser

Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns

Ulric Neisser (Chair) Gwyneth Boodoo Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr. A. Wade Boykin Nathan Brody Stephen J. Ceci Diane E Halpern John C. Loehlin Robert Perloff Robert J. Sternberg Susana Urbina Emory University Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Howard University Wesleyan University Cornell University California State University, San Bernardino University of Texas, Austin University of Pittsburgh Yale University University of North Florida

Selective looking: Attending to visually specified events ☆

Abstract Subjects looked at two optically superimposed video sccreens, on which two different kinds of things were happening. In the principal condition, they were required to follow the action in one episode (by pressing keys when significant events occurred) and ignore the other. They could do this without difficulty, although both were present in the same fully overlapped visual field. Odd events in the unattended episode were rarely noticed. It was very difficult to monitor both episodes at once. Performance was no better when the two episodes were presented to different eyes (dichoptic condition) than when both were given binocularly. It is argued that selective attention does not involve special mechanisms to reject unwanted information, but is a direct consequence of skilled perceiving.

Point of view in personal memories

Abstract A structural aspect of personal memories was examined in four studies. In some memories, one has the perspective of an observer, seeing oneself “from the outside.” In other memories, one sees the scene from ones own perspective; the field of view in such memories corresponds to that of the original situation. The existence of “observer” and “field” memories was confirmed in Study 1, using a recall questionnaire. In Study 2, the similarity structure of a specified set of eight to-be-recalled situations was established: the significant dimensions were “emotionality” and “self-awareness.” Study 3 related these dimensions to the observer-field distinction; situations involving a high degree of emotion and selfawareness were most likely to be recalled with an observer perspective. Recall set was varied in Study 4: a focus on feelings (as opposed to objective circumstances) produced relatively more field memories. Studies 3 and 4 also showed that events reported as more recent tend to be recalled in the field mode. Thus a qualitative characteristic of personal memories—the perspective from which they are experienced—is apparently related to characteristics of the original event, to the individuals purpose in recalling that event, and to the reported recall interval.

John Dean's memory: A case study

Abstract John Dean, the former counsel to President Richard Nixon, testified to the Senate Watergate Investigating Committee about conversations that later turned out to have been tape recorded. Comparison of his testimony with the actual transcripts shows systematic distortion at one level of analysis combined with basic accuracy at another. Many of the distortions reflected Deans own self-image; he tended to recall his role as more central than it really was. Moreover, his memory for even the “gist” of conversations was quite poor except where that gist had been rehearsed in advance or frequently repeated. But while his testimony was often wrong in terms of the particular conversations he tried to describe, Dean was fundamentally right about what had been happening: the existence of a “cover-up” and the participation of various individuals in it. His testimony was accurate at a level that is neither “semantic” (since he was ostensibly describing particular episodes) nor “episodic” (since his accounts of the episodes were often wrong). The term “repisodic” is coined here to describe such memories: what seems to be a remembered episode actually represents a repeated series of events, and thus reflects a genuinely existing state of affairs.

Skills of divided attention

Abstract Two subjects read short stories while writing lists of words at dictation. After some weeks of practice, they were able to write words, discover relations among dictated words, and categorize words for meaning, while reading for comprehension at normal speed. The performance of these subjects is not consistent with the notion that there are fixed limits to attentional capacity.

The rising curve : long-term gains in IQ and related measures

Introduction - Rising Test Scores and What They mean IQ Gains Over Time - Towards Finding the Causes Environmental Complexity and the Flynn Effect The Cultural Evolution of IQ Are We Raising Smarter Kids Today? School and Home Related Influences on IQ The Role of Nutrition in the Development of Intelligence Nutrition and the Worldwide Rise in IQ Scores In Support of the Nutrition Theory Trends in Black-White Test Score Differentials - Uses and Misuses Exploring the Rapid Rise in Black Achievement Scores in the United States The Shrinking Gap Between High and Low Scoring Groups Current Trends and Possible Causes Trends in Black-White Test Score Differentials - the Wordsum Vocabulary Test The Decline of Genotypic Intelligence Problems in Inferring Dysgenic Trends for Intelligence Differential Fertility by IQ and the IQ Distribution of a Population Whither Dysgenics? Comments on Lynn and Preston.

The concept of intelligence

Abstract Roschs theory of concepts, applied to the concept of intelligence, suggests that ones intelligence is just the degree to which one resembles a prototypically intelligent person. Because no single characteristics defines the prototype, there can be no adequate process-based definition of intelligence. In principle, a combination of many empirically derived measures into a single index—as in a Binet test—would be appropriate. In practice, many of the relevant characteristics are simply impossible to measure.

SEARCHING FOR TEN TARGETS SIMULTANEOUSLY

Ss were given extensive practice in scanning through lists of printed symbols for particular targets. By the thirteenth day, they scanned as rapidly when searching for any of 10 different targets as when searching for any of five, or for one target alone. These results are compatible with the assumption that many subsystems for processing visual information can operate in parallel, at least in situations where a high degree of accuracy is not required.

Affect and accuracy in recall : studies of "flashbulb" memories

Preface List of contributors 1. Introduction Eugene Winograd Part I. Empirical Studies: 2. Phantom flashbulbs: false recollections of hearing the news about Challenger Ulric Neisser and Nicole Harsch 3. Potential flashbulbs: memories of ordinary news as the baseline Steen F. Larsen 4. Flashbulb memories: confidence, consistency, and quantity John Neil Bohannon III and Victoria Louise Symons Part II. Developmental Studies: 5. Developmental issues in flashbulb memory research: children recall the Challenger event Amye Richelle Warren and Jeffery N. Swartwood 6. Preschool childrens memories of personal circumstances: the fire alarm study David B. Pillemer Part III. Emotion and Memory: 7. A proposed neurobiological basis for regulating memory storage for significant events Paul E. Gold 8. Remembering the details of emotional events Daniel Reisberg and Friderike Heuer 9. Do flashbulb memories differ from other types of emotional memories? Sven-Ake Christianson 10. Why do traumatic experiences sometimes produce good memory (flashbulbs) and sometimes no memory (repression)? Elizabeth F. Loftus and Leah Kaufman Part IV. Theoretical Issues: 11. Special versus ordinary memory mechanisms in the genesis of flashbulb memories Michael McCloskey 12. Remembering personal circumstances: a functional analysis David B. Pillemer 13. Constraints on memory David C. Rubin 14. The theoretical and empirical status of the flashbulb memory hypothesis William F. Brewer Author index Subject index.

Language-dependent recall of autobiographical memories.

Two studies of autobiographical memory explored the hypothesis that memories become more accessible when the linguistic environment at retrieval matches the linguistic environment at encoding. In Experiment 1, Russian-English bilinguals were asked to recall specific life experiences in response to word prompts. The results supported the hypothesis of language-dependent recall: Participants retrieved more experiences from the Russian-speaking period of their lives when interviewed in Russian and more experiences from the English-speaking period of their lives when interviewed in English. In Experiment 2, the language of the interview was varied independently from the language of the word prompts. Both variables were found to influence autobiographical recall. These findings show that language at the time of retrieval, like other forms of context, plays a significant role in determining what will be remembered.