Cognitive psychology lacks explicit theories that encompass more than a single experimental paradigm. This research presents a theory of memory retrieval that not only applies over a range of paradigms but also deals with experimental data in greater depth and more detail than competing models. The theory provides a rationale for relating…

Presents a model that borrows concepts of economic utility theory to describe the effects on behavior of a contingency among responses. If subjects allocate their time among responses to maximize the value of their behavior, contingency may be seen to restrict the set of available allocations. Describes the allocation of time to contingent,…

The theory proposed (recognition-by-components) hypothesizes the perceptual recognition of objects to be a process in which the image of the input is segmented at regions of deep concavity into an arrangement of simple geometric components. Experiments on the perception of briefly presented pictures support the theory. (Author/LMO)

Two stages of skill development are: declarative (facts are interpreted) and procedural (knowledge is embodied in skill procedures). Knowledge compilation moves skills from the declarative to procedural stage in subprocesses of composition, which collapses sequences of productions into single productions, and proceduralization, which embeds…

The concepts of iconic memory and schematic memory are used to examine two fundamental and related features of the contemporary theory of visual information processing. (Editor)

Dependent variables such as preference, hedonic tone, aesthetic appreciation, and developmental stages are frequently observed to be single-peaked functions of the independent variables. This research addresses the problem of deriving, from more elementary underlying processes, a preference function that rises monotonically to a peak and then…

A theory of classical conditioning is presented, which is based on a parallel, rule-based performance system integrated with mechanisms for inductive learning. A major inferential heuristic incorporated into the theory involves "unusualness," which is focused on novel cues. The theory is implemented via computer simulation. (TJH)

The content of claims that basic emotions are the primitive building blocks of other nonbasic emotions is examined. It is suggested that the concept of basic emotions as elementary psychological primitives which explain other emotions is a false concept. An alternative approach is proposed. (SLD)

A unified theory of visual recognition and attentional selection is developed by integrating the biased-choice model for single-stimulus recognition with a choice model for selection from multielement displays in a race model framework. The theory is applied to findings from previous studies and quantitative fits are encouraging. (SLD)

The model of discourse comprehension of W. Kintsch (1988) draws on connectionist ideas and gives rise to some mathematical questions that are investigated in this paper, giving theoretical support to the model. (Author/SLD)

How scientists' tools have shaped theories of mind is explored, focusing on how methods of statistical inference have turned into metaphors of mind. The tools-to-theories heuristic explains emergence of a range of cognitive theories, and can be applied to current approaches that investigate the mind as an intuitive statistician. (SLD)

Reviews the theories of C. Lange and William James on emotional consciousness, affirming it to be the effect of organic changes which express emotion. The name emotion might be considered to connote organic excitement as the distinctive feature of the state. (SLD)

The behaviorist sees psychology as an objective experimental branch of natural science that can be studied without references to consciousness. Estimating states of consciousness as objects of investigation in themselves will allow the findings of psychology to become functional correlates of structure that can be explained in physicochemical…

A theory of the physiology of motivation is presented. The basic assumption is that the amount of motivated behavior is a direct function of the amount of activity in certain excitatory centers of the hypothalamus. Activities of these centers are determined by factors in four general classes. (SLD)

Capacity limitations in absolute judgment tasks are discussed in relation to information theory. Information theory can provide a quantitative way of resolving questions about limitations on the amount of information we can receive and the process of recoding. (SLD)