“Verbal working memory and language production: Common approaches to the serial ordering of verbal information”: Correction to Acheson and MacDonald (2009).

Reports an error in "Verbal working memory and language production: Common approaches to the serial ordering of verbal information" by Daniel J. Acheson and Maryellen C. MacDonald (Psychological Bulletin, 2009[Jan], Vol 135[1], 50-68). In the article “Verbal Working Memory and Language Production: Common Approaches to the Serial Ordering of Verbal Information” by Daniel J. Acheson and Maryellen C. MacDonald (Psychological Bulletin, 2009, Vol. 135, No. 1, pp. 50–68), the initial sentence of the text of the article (p. 50) contains an error. The first name of the researcher Andrew W. Ellis was listed incorrectly. The sentence should read as follows: Nearly 30 years ago, Andrew W. Ellis (1980) observed that errors on tests of verbal working memory (WM) paralleled those that occur naturally in speech production. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-18777-007.) Verbal working memory (WM) tasks typically involve the language production architecture for recall; however, language production processes have had a minimal role in theorizing about WM. A framework for understanding verbal WM results is presented here. In this framework, domain-specific mechanisms for serial ordering in verbal WM are provided by the language production architecture, in which positional, lexical, and phonological similarity constraints are highly similar to those identified in the WM literature. These behavioral similarities are paralleled in computational modeling of serial ordering in both fields. The role of long-term learning in serial ordering performance is emphasized, in contrast to some models of verbal WM. Classic WM findings are discussed in terms of the language production architecture. The integration of principles from both fields illuminates the maintenance and ordering mechanisms for verbal information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory and complex cognition.

The relations among assessments of working memory (WM) and a range of complex cognitive abilities were examined. In 2 experiments participants completed 2 WM tasks designed to assess verbal and nonverbal WM, as well as assessments of verbal intelligence, nonverbal intelligence, and academic achievement. Verbal WM had no relationship with nonverbal intelligence, whereas nonverbal WM had no relationship with verbal intelligence and academic achievement. A reanalysis of P. C. Kyllonen & R. E. Christal (see PA, Vol 78:32248; Experiment 1) is reported in which multiple indicators of WM were used to identify verbal and nonverbal WM factors; both of these WM factors were heavily saturated with a second-order factor, g (61% and 69%, respectively). Convergent and discriminant validation of the multidimensionality of WM was found in the patterns of correlations among the first-order Working Memory, General Knowledge, and Speed factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Pritchard.

In the article, "Psychophysiology of P300," by Walter S. Pritchard (Psychological Bulletin, 1981, Vol. 89, No. 3, 506-540; see record 1981-20721-001), the sixth sentence in the second paragraph on page 506 contains an error. The corrected sentence is provided here. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Recovered memories in context: Thoughts and elaborations on Bowers and Farvolden (1996)": Correction.

Reports a error in the original article by J.W. Pennebaker and Amina Memon (Psychological Bulletin, 1996 [May], Vol 119 [3], 381–385). On page 384, column 2, lines 27–29, the sentence should read "The first survey (300 U.S. registered psychotherapists, 43% response rate) was conducted in 1992.' (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-01402-002.) The recovered memory debate exposes several traditional and recent contradictions within psychology. Building on K. Bowers and P. Farvolden (see record 83-27619), the nature of recovered memories has profoundly different meanings for therapeutic vs legal settings. Whereas memory can be distorted during the process of retrieval, certain techniques—such as nondirective writing—may be helpful in reducing suggestive influences in recall. Ironically, methods have been found to produce the most accurate recollections of the past appear only subtly different from those that yield the greatest distortions. The recovered memory debate must ultimately be viewed within a cultural context, both in terms of the phenomenon and its treatment. The authors discuss parallels to other explanatory and therapeutic fads related to states of nonspecific distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heterogeneity of auditory verbal working memory in schizophrenia.

The heterogeneity of schizophrenia remains an obstacle for understanding its pathophysiology. Studies using a tone discrimination screening test to classify patients have found evidence for 2 subgroups having either a specific deficit in verbal working memory (WM) or deficits in both verbal and nonverbal memory. This study aimed to (a) replicate in larger samples differences between these subgroups in auditory verbal WM; (b) evaluate their performance on tests of explicit memory and sustained attention; (c) determine the relation of verbal WM deficits to auditory hallucinations and other symptoms; and (d) examine medication effects. The verbal WM and tone discrimination performance did not differ between medicated (n = 45) and unmedicated (n = 38) patients. Patients with schizophrenia who passed the tone screening test (discriminators; n = 60) were compared with those who did not (nondiscriminators; n = 23) and healthy controls (n = 47). The discriminator subgroup showed poorer verbal WM than did controls and a deficit in verbal but not visual memory on the Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised (Wechsler, 1987), whereas the nondiscriminator subgroup showed overall poorer performance on both verbal and nonverbal tests and a marked deficit in sustained attention. Verbal WM deficits in discriminators were correlated with auditory hallucinations but not with negative symptoms. The results are consistent with a verbal memory deficit in a subgroup of schizophrenia having intact auditory perception, which may stem from dysfunction of language-related cortical regions, and a more generalized cognitive deficit in a subgroup having auditory perceptual and attentional dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological impairments in schizophrenia: Integration of performance-based and brain imaging findings.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 134(3) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2008-04614-006). In the article "Neuropsychological Impairments in Schizophrenia: Integration of Performance-Based and Brain Imaging Findings," by Abraham Reichenberg and Philip D. Harvey (Psychological Bulletin, 2007, Vol. 133, No. 5, pp. 833-858), on page 837, right column, first paragraph; in Table 1 (p. 835); and in Table 2 (p. 843), the word perseverations was misspelled as preservations. In addition, on page 846, left column, third paragraph, the last word in the sentence was incorrect. The correct word should be hyperactivation.] Until recently, the dominant view was that schizophrenia patients have limited, if any, neuropsychological impairments, and those that are observed are only secondary to the florid symptoms of the disorder. This view has dramatically changed. This review integrates recent evidence demonstrating the severity and profile of neuropsychological impairments in schizophrenia. We present quantitative evaluation of the literature demonstrating that the most severe impairments are apparent in episodic memory and executive control processes, evident on a background of a generalized cognitive deficit. The neuropsychological impairments potentially represent genetic liability to the disorder, as similar, yet milder, impairments are evident in schizophrenia patients even before the onset of psychotic symptoms, as well as in the nonpsychotic relatives of schizophrenia patients. Corresponding cognitive neuroimaging literature on executive functions, episodic memory, and working memory in schizophrenia documenting abnormalities in frontal and medial temporal lobes is summarized, and current models integrating neuropsychological and neuroimaging data are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Construct validity of WAIS—R factors: Neuropsychological test correlates in adults referred for evaluation of possible head injury": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by E. M. S. Sherman et al (Psychological Assessment, 1995[Dec], Vol 7[4], 440–444. On page 444, line 36 of the reference list incorrectly reads, "Reitan, R. M., & Davidson, L. A.' The correct spelling is Davison. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-10111-001.) A 3-factor solution of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R; Wechsler, 1981) in 260 adults with suspected head injury suggested relatively good construct validity for the factors, based on correlations with neuropsychological tests purported to measure similar abilities. The Verbal Comprehension factor was related to verbal ability, verbal memory, and executive functioning. The Perceptual Organization factor, although measuring primarily visual-spatial perception and visual construction ability, was related to visual-spatial memory, visual attention, and executive functioning. The Freedom From Distractibility factor was correlated with two attention measures and was not associated with memory measures. Its association with executive functioning was inconsistent. The findings are discussed in terms of the multidimensional nature of neuropsychological tests and WAIS—R factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Howard Andrew Knox and the origins of performance testing on Ellis Island, 1912-1916.

Howard Andrew Knox was Assistant Surgeon at the immigration station at Ellis Island, New York, between April 1912 and May 1916. In response to public disquiet that the physicians at Ellis Island were failing to prevent mentally retarded people from entering the country, Knox and his colleagues assembled a collection of performance tests that could be administered to potential immigrants with little knowledge of the English language. They were subsequently used in clinical practice and in educational, psychological, and social research. Because of the early work done at Ellis Island, it is nowadays taken for granted that any adequate measure of intelligence must include both verbal and performance subtests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Keselman, Games, and Rogan.

In the article, "Type I and Type II Errors in Simultaneous and Two-Stage Multiple Comparison Procedures," by H. J. Keselman, P. A. Games, and J. C. Rogan (Psychological Bulletin, 1980, Vol. 88, No. 2, pp. 356-358; see record 1980-29319-001), the last sentence of the first column on page 357 is incorrect. In addition, Table 1 (p. 357) contains an error. Corrections to both errors are published here. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of smoking and smoking abstinence on verbal and visuospatial working memory capacity.

Several studies have examined the effects of smoking and abstaining from smoking on working memory (WM) but have yielded inconclusive findings. Thus, the authors used a repeated measures design to assess the effects of smoking and abstaining from smoking on both visuospatial and verbal WM capacity (WMC) using highly reliable, well-validated, and theoretically driven WM span tasks. Verbal n-back was also administered to examine its relationship to these complex WM span tasks and to compare this study's results with previous findings. Smokers (n = 23) and nonsmokers (n = 21) participated in 2 sessions separated by 1 week. During 1 session, smokers completed the WM tasks after abstaining from smoking for at least 12 hr, whereas in the other session smokers did not abstain from smoking and were tested immediately after smoking (all WM tasks were completed 45 min or less since last cigarette). Results indicated that smokers' verbal WM span was lower than nonsmokers' and was lower during the nonabstinent session compared with the abstinent session. Smokers' verbal n-back performance was also lower than nonsmokers', although there was no difference in verbal n-back performance between the smoking sessions. In contrast, there was no difference in visuospatial WM span between the smoking sessions or between smokers and nonsmokers. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that (a) smokers' verbal WM is lower than nonsmokers, (b) smokers' verbal WMC is lower during nonabstinence compared with abstinence, and (c) smoking exhibits differential effects on the different WM domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory within a nomological network of cognitive and perceptual speed abilities.

It has become fashionable to equate constructs of working memory (WM) and general intelligence (g). Few investigations have provided direct evidence that WM and g measures yield similar ordering of individuals. Correlational investigations have yielded mixed results. The authors assess the construct space for WM and g and demonstrate that WM shares substantial variance with perceptual speed (PS) constructs. Thirty-six ability tests representing verbal, numerical, spatial, and PS abilities; the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices; and 7 WM tests were administered to 135 adults. A nomological representation for WM is provided through a series of cognitive and PS ability models. Construct overlap between PS and WM is further investigated with attention to complexity, processing differences, and practice effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential weighting of common and distinctive components.

We investigated possible explanations of the finding that the relative weight (W) of common components in similarity judgments is higher for verbal than for pictorial stimuli. A serial presentation of stimulus components had no effect on verbal stimuli; it increased the impact of both common and distinctive components of pictorial stimuli but did not affect their relative weight. On the other hand, W was increased by manipulations that reduced the cohesiveness of composite pictures, such as separating, scrambling, and mixing their components. Furthermore, W was decreased by manipulations that enhanced the cohesiveness of composite verbal stimuli by imposing structure on their components. Verbal and pictorial representations of the same stimuli yielded no systematic differences in W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Manual of Child Psychology": Erratum.

Reports an error in the review by Roger G. Barker of the L. Carmichael edited book, Manual of Child Psychology (Psychological Bulletin, 1955, Vol 52[3], 263-267). The sentence on page 266, right-hand column, should read "However, this reader found intriguing the world view so boldly sketched." (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2005-10141-002). This book is a good picture of child psychology in 1954. The weaknesses of the Manual are largely the weaknesses of the science it surveys. A good manual of child psychology awaits a more mature science of child behavior. In the meantime this book and, it is to be hoped, its future editions provide an important aid in achieving this maturity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familiarity enhances visual working memory for faces.

Although it is intuitive that familiarity with complex visual objects should aid their preservation in visual working memory (WM), empirical evidence for this is lacking. This study used a conventional change-detection procedure to assess visual WM for unfamiliar and famous faces in healthy adults. Across experiments, faces were upright or inverted and a low- or high-load concurrent verbal WM task was administered to suppress contribution from verbal WM. Even with a high verbal memory load, visual WM performance was significantly better and capacity estimated as significantly greater for famous versus unfamiliar faces. Face inversion abolished this effect. Thus, neither strategic, explicit support from verbal WM nor low-level feature processing easily accounts for the observed benefit of high familiarity for visual WM. These results demonstrate that storage of items in visual WM can be enhanced if robust visual representations of them already exist in long-term memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of dichotomous variables in the presence of serial dependence.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 98(3) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2009-20912-001). An unnecessary σ was added to the second line of Equation 32 on page 555. The second line should read: + 1/???](1 + ?a?b)/(1 – ?a?b), with the rest of the equation correct as printed.] Presents a model for the analysis of dichotomous data generated under a Markov chain model. Methods for estimating, testing, and comparing proportions and for analyzing dyadic interactions are described and compared with the standard techniques derived under the assumption of serial independence. It is shown that the regular test statistics must be adjusted by a correction factor that is a simple function of the within-S serial dependence parameter. Eigenvalues of the transition matrix are appended. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of 80 psychology journals based on the Science Citation Index..

Ranked 80 psychology journals and those from closely related fields in terms of their impact factors (average citations per article) where the numerator for the impact factor was based on the total number of citations accruing to 1972–1973 articles in that journal in the 1974 Science Citation Index. The top 3 journals were Psychological Review, Cognitive Psychology, and Psychological Bulletin. Comparisons are made with a ranking study conducted by M. J. White and K. G. White (1977). For related article, see PA, Vol 56:4649. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Generality of Working Memory Capacity: A Latent-Variable Approach to Verbal and Visuospatial Memory Span and Reasoning.

A latent-variable study examined whether verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) capacity measures reflect a primarily domain-general construct by testing 236 participants in 3 span tests each of verbal WM. visuospatial WM, verbal short-term memory (STM), and visuospatial STM. as well as in tests of verbal and spatial reasoning and general fluid intelligence (Gf). Confirmatory' factor analyses and structural equation models indicated that the WM tasks largely reflected a domain-general factor, whereas STM tasks, based on the same stimuli as the WM tasks, were much more domain specific. The WM construct was a strong predictor of Gf and a weaker predictor of domain-specific reasoning, and the reverse was true for the STM construct. The findings support a domain-general view of WM capacity, in which executive-attention processes drive the broad predictive utility of WM span measures, and domain-specific storage and rehearsal processes relate more strongly to domain-specific aspects of complex cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Analysis of dichotomous variables in the presence of serial dependence": Correction to Budescu.

Reports an error in "Analysis of dichotomous variables in the presence of serial dependence" by David V. Budescu (Psychological Bulletin, 1985[May], Vol 97[3], 547-561). An unnecessary σ was added to the second line of Equation 32 on page 555. The second line should read: + 1/???](1 + ?a?b)/(1 – ?a?b), with the rest of the equation correct as printed. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-21787-001.) Presents a model for the analysis of dichotomous data generated under a Markov chain model. Methods for estimating, testing, and comparing proportions and for analyzing dyadic interactions are described and compared with the standard techniques derived under the assumption of serial independence. It is shown that the regular test statistics must be adjusted by a correction factor that is a simple function of the within-S serial dependence parameter. Eigenvalues of the transition matrix are appended. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)