Research favoring the so-called bottom-up and top-down classes of explanations for reversible figures that dominated the literature in last half of the 20th century is reviewed. Two conclusions are offered. First, any single-process model is extremely unlikely to be able to accommodate the wide array of empirical findings, suggesting that the…

Evidence about memory for order information comes from a number of different methodologies: human cognition, patient studies, neuroimaging studies, and animal lesion and behavioral studies. The present article discusses (a) evidence that order and item memory are separable; (b) proposed mechanisms for order memory (interitem associations, direct…

This rejoinder discusses some common points raised in the commentaries of this special issue of JOBM, including (1) different definitions of positive and negative, (2) use of the terms reinforcement and establishing operation, and (3) concerns over the abandonment of behavior analysis for mentalistic research. In addition, a people-based approach…

Given the proliferation of factor analysis applications in the literature, the present article examines the use of factor analysis in current published research across four psychological journals. Notwithstanding ease of analysis due to computers, the appropriate use of factor analysis requires a series of thoughtful researcher judgments. These…

P. N. Johnson-Laird and R. M. J. Byrne proposed an influential theory of conditionals in which mental models represent logical possibilities and inferences are drawn from the extensions of possibilities that are used to represent conditionals. In this article, the authors argue that the extensional semantics underlying this theory is equivalent to…

This article presents comments on "Psychology Needs Realism not Instrumentalism" by B. Haig, "Ontological and Epistemic Claims of Realism and Instrumentalism" by Lau and "The Scientific Denial of the Real and the Dialectic of Scientism and Humanism" by Ramey and Chrysikou which were all comments on the original article "Realism, Instrumentalism,…

E. Hazeltine, D. Teague, and R. B. Ivry have presented data that have been interpreted as evidence against a central bottleneck. This article describes simulations of their Experiments 1 and 4 in the ACT-R cognitive architecture, which does possess a central bottleneck in production execution. The simulation model is capable of accounting for the…

Situation definition is the process and product of actors' interpretive activities toward a given situation. By reviewing a number of psychological studies conducted in experimental settings, we found that the studies have only explicated a part of the situation definition process and have neglected its dynamic aspects. We need to focus on the…

The n-back task requires participants to decide whether each stimulus in a sequence matches the one that appeared n items ago. Although n-back has become a standard "executive" working memory (WM) measure in cognitive neuroscience, it has been subjected to few behavioral tests of construct validity. A combined experimental-correlational study…

Statistical reform in school psychology research is discussed in terms of research designs, measurement issues, statistical modeling and analysis procedures, interpretation and reporting of statistical results, and finally statistics education.

Identifying individuals with mathematical difficulties (MD) is becoming increasingly important in our education system. However, recognising MD is only the first stage in the provision of special educational needs (SEN). Although planning the effective remedial support is vital, there is little consensus on the interventions that are appropriate.…

Pigeons were trained in three experiments with a two-key, concurrent-chains choice procedure. The initial links were equal variable-interval schedules, and the terminal links were random-time schedules with equal average interreinforcement intervals. Across the three experiments, the pigeons either stayed in a terminal link until a reinforcer was…

Participation in imagined worlds is a hallmark of the human species, and yet we know little about the context of its early emergence. The experiments reported here replicated and extended in 2 directions Lillard and Witherington's (2004) study of how mothers pretend to have snacks, across different ages of children (15- to 24-month-olds,…

The study of emotion as discourse not only eliminates objections about the individual psychology of students, it also connects researchers to methods that go beyond reflection and self-reporting. In this article, the author pursues these ideas within the context of a college composition course where students experienced a particularly high level…

This thesis is an exploration and synthesis of the theories relating to an individual's self perceptions including self, self-concept or -image, and self-esteem. The rationale for this thesis deals with the topic of self perception and the related areas which form the psychological context of the individual. The area of study has been selected due…