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Biomedical subjects

S J Ceci

Publications and source records attributed to S J Ceci.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Fortysomething: recognizing faces at one's 25th reunion.

Twenty-four to 26 years after their high school graduation, subjects matched 40 photographs of former classmates taken from the high school yearbook with 40 current photographs of these same former classmates. Compared with age-matched control subjects who had no prior familiarity with the persons depicted in the photographs, the former classmates were superior at matching the old and new photographs. Generally, same-orientation photographs (i.e., old and new photographs taken from the same side) were matched more accurately than different-orientation photographs. Prior familiarity, however, rendered the orientation factor unimportant. These findings are discussed in terms of the processes that underlie facial recognition over very long intervals and in terms of their psycholegal implications.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

On learning ... more or less: a knowledge x process x context view of learning disabilities.

The authors review the last decade of their research on learning disabilities and conclude that knowledge x process x context is the most useful way to think about children's cognitive difficulties. According to this framework, learning disabilities is seen as a result of the interplay between a poorly elaborated knowledge base (especially in language-related domains), the biologically determined efficiencies of various microlevel processes such as encoding, and the physical and social meaning attached to performance (i.e, the context). It is suggested that this framework helps explain instances of asymmetry wherein children with learning disabilities deploy a cognitive process more or less efficiently, depending on the material and task demands. It also raises several interesting questions about the presumed "specificity" of the impairment underlying learning disablement and the possibility that these children may not differ qualitatively from nonimpaired peers, only quantitatively.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Semantic priming effects for stimuli presented to the right and left visual fields.

Studies that have addressed the possibility of hemispheric differences in semantic priming effects have yielded contradictory results. This paper reports the findings of two experiments intended to shed greater light on the issue of hemispheric differences in semantic priming. Experiment 1 used a hemiretinal paradigm and examined manual response latency and response accuracy to four types of word pairs; categorically related, syntactically related, unrelated, and pairs containing a nonword member. Experiment 2 examined the effects of unrecognized, disambiguating flank words on verbal responses to a centrally presented homograph. Experiment 1 yielded no significant visual field differences in magnitude of priming effects when response latency served as the dependent measure, although categorical relatedness facilitated response accuracy for left but not right visual field stimuli. In experiment 2, the disambiguating words had a significant effect on meaning interpretation of the homographs that was independent of visual field of presentation. Taken together, the results of these studies are interpreted as indicating that semantic aspects of linguistic input are automatically processed and can influence the content and latency of subsequent responses, whether presented to the left or right visual field.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

"Don't forget to take the cupcakes out of the oven": prospective memory, strategic time-monitoring, and context.

Strategies employed by children in tasks requiring prospective memory (i.e., remembering to do something in the future) were investigated to illuminate the nature of the processes involved, and their developmental and contextual determinants. Efficient strategy use was expected to increase with age but to decrease in an unfamiliar setting or on a task associated with higher sex-role expectations. Children were instructed to perform future activities after waiting 30 min. Children's clock-checking during the waiting period was assessed in their own homes or a university psychophysics laboratory. As predicted, strategic time-monitoring occurred less frequently in the laboratory than in the home. The anticipated differences associated with higher sex-role expectations and age were most salient for older boys in the laboratory setting. The findings indicate that, when observed in a familiar setting, children can be shown to employ sophisticated cognitive strategies. Emphasis is placed on the scientific power of the laboratory as a contrasting context for illuminating developmental processes.

Adolescent↗