8:30-8:40 AM

COMPARING ALGEBRA WORD PROBLEMS FACILITATES INDUCING AN ABSTRACT SCHEMA FOR A SOLUTION PROCEDURE, BUT NOT A GENERAL PRINCIPLE

Robert S. Ryan, Lakshmi Nair (Kutztown University), Jaime Knudsen (George Washington University), Laura Kise, Alyssa Rizzo, Moshe Machlev (Kutztown University)

Comparing analogies facilitates inducing an abstract schema for a structure that is useful for solving similar problems. But algebra problems can have structures not only at a procedural level but also at a deeper principle level. Participants who compared algebra word problems were better able to solve new problems, but only if the solution procedures were the same as the examples. This suggests that they induced a schema for the procedure, but not the principle.

8:45-8:55 AM

THE EFFECTS OF NEGATIVE PRIMING AND TIME PRESSURE ON CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

Zachary Lynn (Hofstra University)

This paper examines the effects of negative priming and time pressure on creative problem solving, using the negative priming paradigm developed by Smith (2003), but adding time pressure, a variable not often studied. Expected conclusions were main effects of time pressure and negative priming on originality and practicality (the two creativity measures), and a significant interaction, which was the most compelling finding. The implications of these findings for real-world problem solving are examined.

9:00-9:10 AM

THE APPLICATION OF PSYCHOPHYSICS TO THE PERCEPTION OF CONTINGENCY

Lorraine Allan, Shepard Siegel (Mc Master University)

There are many psychological tasks which involve the pairing of binary variables. The various tasks used, while similar in structure, typically address different questions and are motivated by different theoretical traditions. We examine two such tasks: contingency judgments and signal detection. We apply a psychophysical analysis to contingency judgment data, and demonstrate that this approach provides a novel interpretation of a well-established but little understood phenomenon – the outcome density effect.

9:15-9:25 AM

COMPETITION AMONG CAUSES IS A CONTRAST PROCESS

Christine Darredeau, Andrew G. Baker (McGill University)

The presence of strong predictors of an outcome reduces causal judgments of moderate predictors. Our results challenge traditional accounts of this phenomenon by showing that when competing predictors are all either positively or negatively related to the outcome, causal judgments of moderate predictors are reduced; however, consistent with a contrast hypothesis, when they are of opposite polarity judgments are enhanced. We found similar results using either one or two strong competing predictors.

9:30-9:40 AM

HUMAN JUDGMENTS OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CAUSAL CHAINS

Irina I. Baetu, Andrew G. Baker (McGill University)

Causal chains were studied in a human contingency preparation. Participants were presented with contingency information about the relationship between events A and B, as well as events B and C. Despite never having experienced A and C together, participants rated the A-C relationship. A-C ratings were a multiplicative function of the A-B and B-C contingencies, confirming our statistical model and associative models of learning based on mediated generalization and mediated conditioning.

9:45-9:55 AM

NEED FOR COGNITION AND CROSS EXAMINATION: WHAT HELPS JURORS UNDERSTAND FLAWS IN SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

Jessica Salerno (Fletcher Allen Healthcare), Michelle McCauley (Middlebury College)

Jurors are often asked to evaluate scientific evidence. This research assess whether cross-examination, deliberation and jurors’ Need for Cognition scores all significantly influenced mock jurors’ ability to evaluate and distinguish between flawed and valid expert scientific testimony. Those participants low in NC needed the help of cross-examination and deliberation to reach

Paper Fairfax B

8:30-9:00 AM

FOCUS PAPER: AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR: CORTICOLIMBIC SEROTONIN AND RECEPTOR SUBTYPES

Klaus Miczek (Tufts University)

9:00-9:10 AM

WHERE HAS THE FEAR GONE?: CUE COMPETITION IS NOT A RESULT OF THE DIVISION OF A LIMITED RESOURCE.

Kouji Urushihara, Michael Karmin, Ralph R. Miller (State University of New York at Binghamton)

Two lick suppression experiments with rats investigated the relationship between fear to a discrete CS and that to the conditioning context. It is well known that fear to a conditioning context decreases when footshock US presentations are signaled by a CS. We found that when the CS was presented for longer durations during conditioning or when the CS was massively preexposed before conditioning, fear to the context decreased, despite fear to the CS also decreasing.

9:15-9:25 AM

AGE AND SEX INFLUENCES ON INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN DOMAIN-SPECIFIC AND GENERAL LEARNING ABILITIES IN MICE

David A. Townsend, Loius D. Matzel (Rutgers University)

To elucidate the age and sex effects on general and domain-specific cognitive abilities, male and female BALB/c mice were run through an extensive test battery. Young adult (3 month) and aged (19 month) mice were assessed during acquisition on seven learning tasks (Lashley, Spatial Plus, and Spatial Water Mazes, Odor Discrimination, Passive Avoidance, Fear Conditioning, and Reinforced Alternation), as well as tests of long term memory, and measures of sensory/motor function, emotionality, and stress reactivity.

9:30-9:40 AM

A+/AX+ VS. AX+/A+ CONDITIONING: DIFFERENCES IN TASTE-MEDIATED ODOR POTENTIATION

Robert Batsell (Kalamazoo College), John D. Batson (Furman University)

Recent work suggests odor-aversion conditioning is stronger following AX+/A+ conditioning compared to A+/AX+ conditioning with odor (A) and taste (X) cues. In Experiment 1, AX+/ A+ conditioning produced significantly stronger odor aversions than either A+/AX+ or A+/A+ conditioning, which did not differ. The interpretation that A+/AX+ conditioning is weaker because of the absence of a taste-odor within-compound association was not supported in Experiment 2. These results are interpreted in terms of a taste-odor configural association.

9:45-9:55 AM

REDUCTION OF COCAINE SEEKING BY A CONDITIONED INHIBITOR FOR FOOD

Stanley . J. Weiss, David N. Kearns (American University)

Rats’ lever-presses were reinforced by food when a click was present and by cocaine when a tone was present. Reinforcement was unavailable (extinction) when these stimuli were absent. Using the A+/AB- paradigm, a conditioned inhibitor for food was created by making food unavailable when a light was superimposed on the click. On a stimulus compounding test, the light reduced cocaine seeking in tone by 95%. This demonstration that a non-drug-related appetitive conditioned inhibitor essentially eliminated drug seeking could have implications for the treatment of drug abuse.

Other Exeter

Poster 1

EXAMINING THE FADIGN AFFECT BIAS IN EXISTENTIAL AND REGULAR EVENTS OF THE ELDERLY

Michelle Gerth (Christopher Newport University)

Participants recorded negative and positive, existential (life defining) and regular events, which were either recent (witin the last 18 years) or remote (outside 18 years). Negative events faded to a greater degree over time than positive events, and negative recent existential events faded faster than negative recent regular events. The fading affect bias applies to the elderly and is greater for specific types of events.

Poster 2

THE CONTRIBUTION OF NEED FOR COGNITION TO READING COMPREHENSION IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Melinda D. Hodgkiss, Susan Ruark, Kelly B. Cartwright (Christopher Newport University)

Need for Cognition (NFC), the tendency to enjoy and engage in effortful cognitive activities, is related to several variables, including verbal ability, but little work has investigated the relation of NFC to reading skill. This study investigated the relation of NFC to reading frequency and reading comprehension in a sample of 60 university students. Results indicated that NFC contributed significant variance to reading comprehension over the contributions of reading frequency and verbal ability, as predicted.

Poster 3

POWER TO BIND: THE EFFECTS OF COLOR ON WITHIN-PAIR MEMORY CONJUNCTION ERRORS

Sharon Hannigan, Alan Searleman, Courtney Wheeler (St. Lawrence University), Mark Reinitz (University of Puget Sound)

Memory conjunction errors are the miscombination of features from different sources resulting in a false memory of a stimulus that hadn’t been previously viewed. In this study, pairs of faces were sequentially presented either in black and white or tinted the same or different colors. Upon subsequent testing for face recognition, significantly more within-in pair conjunction errors were made in the Same Color condition than in either the No Color or Different Color conditions.

Poster 4

SIMULTANEITY OVERPOWERS THE EFFECT OF COLOR ON MEMORY CONJUNCTION ERRORS FOR PAIRED FACES

Alan Searleman, Sharon Hannigan, Adam Christensen (St. Lawrence University), Mark Reinitz (University of Puget Sound)

People sometimes make memory conjunction errors for faces, mistakenly perceiving a new face as being one previously seen if it consists of features that occurred in two separate faces viewed earlier. The present study attempted to influence the number of such errors by tinting some of the paired faces either the same or different colors. The results indicated that color could not override the powerful influence of simultaneous presentation of faces in the study phase.

Poster 5

FACILITATING FLOW EXPERIENCES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MUSICIANS

Stacy Whitcomb, Arvid Bloom, Paula Skutnick-Henley (West Chester University)

In a follow-up study, we examined musicians’ ability to attain a state of “flow” when they play their instruments or sing. A survey completed by 64 undergraduate music majors highlighted three key predictors of flow proneness: self confidence and self trust while playing, the ability to play without self criticism, and the ability to maintain focus on the music. We offer suggestions to help college student music majors more consistently achieve flow.

Poster 6 EXAMING GENDER STEREOTYPES IN MEDIA

Linday M. Boutwell, Kristin M. Wilson, Jefferey A. Gibbons (Christopher Newport University)

Participants watched movies. Character sex is remembered best when men play lead reoles in positive stories and character sex is recalled porrly wehn women protray the lead roeles in negative stories.

Poster 7

INVESTIGATING THE RELATION OF GENDER STEREOTYPES TO MEMORY

Kristin M. Wilson, Linday M. Boutwell, Jefferey A. Gibbons (Christopher Newport University)

Strangor (1988) explained that the groupings of characeristics that form steretopes become associated with various social groups over time. These heuristics allow individuals to make quick judgments about other individuals. the extent to which these heuristics affect an individual’s memory can be driven by sex role stereotypes.

EVALUATING MEMORY FOR THE ACTIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN IN STEREOTYPICALLY MASCULINE, FEMININE, AND GENDER-NEUTRAL ROLES

Jefferey A. Gibbons (Christopher Newport University), Cheryl A. Zerbe-Taylor (Texas Christian University)

Gibbons et al. (2003) found that paticipants correctly and incorrectly recognized male photographs as a malpracticing plastic surgeon best. Givvons et al. (2002) replicated the procedure in Gibbons et al. (2003) found that female photographs were correctly and incorrectly recognized as the lead chracter more frequently than male photographs across positive and negative roles. Character sex was recalled best when men played the lead character in positive stories. The results suggest that gender roles drive memories for character actions.

Poster 9

MOVIES AFFECT HOW CHARACTER SEX IS REMEMBERED IN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE STORIES WITH MALE AND FEMALE LEAD CHARACTERS

Ashton Hurdle, Kristin M. Wison, Jefferey A. Gibbons (Christopher Newport University)

The current study was a follow-up to previous research examining the way character sex is remembered across stories with male/femaile and leading/supporting characters in positive and negative roles. Participants recalled character sex for female leads when watching positive movies and they recalle character sex best male leads when watching negative movies. Future research will extend the study and debilitate participants’ memory to a greater degree.

Poster 10

EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL DISCLOSURE ON STORYTELLING PATTERNS AND MOOD

Stephanie E. Pulas (Christopher Newport University)

Past research has shown that emotions for negative events fade faster over time than emotions for positive events (Walker, Vogl, & Thompson, 1997). However, several moderating factors such as storytelling and social disclosures aided in faster fading of negative emotions over a period of time, while maintaining positive emotions (Skowronski, Gibbons, Vogl & Walker, in press). The current study examined the origins of the FAB.

Poster 11

EXAMING THE EFFECT OF STORYTELLING BEHAVIORS ON MOOD

Rebecca D. Warme, Jeffrey A. Gibbons (Christopher Newport University)

We evaluated the initial and current affect of positive and negative life events. Negative emotions associated wih negative events faded more when participants told their stories to more different types of people compared to when participants told their stories to few different types of people. This finding showed that the fading affect fias was moderated by the number of different types of people. Conversely, the number of stories did not moderate the fading affect bias.

Poster 12

EXAMINING THE FADING AFFECT BIAS IN EXISTENTIAL AND REGULAR EVENTS OF COLLEGE-AGED STUDENTS

Trisan N. Johnson, Amy J. Cumberland (Christopher Newport University)

The results of this experiment replicated the Fading Affect Bias (FAB) in which negative events fade more than positive events. The number of people events were shared with also indicated a relation between rehearsal ratings and fading affect bias. the results suggest that regular remote events faded faster than regular recent events. Furthermore, he results suggest that fading occurs mor for regular events over time than for existential moments.