Human performance on an analogue of an interval bisection task

Two experiments used normal adult human subjects in an analogue of a time interval bisection task frequently used with animals. All presented durations were defined by the time between two very brief clicks, and all durations were less than 1 sec, to avoid complications arising from chronometric counting. In Experiment 1 different groups of subjects received standard durations of either 0.2 and 0.8 or 0.1 and 0.9 sec and then classified a range of durations including these values in terms of their similarity to the standard short (0.2- or 0.1-sec) and long (0.8- or 0.9-sec) durations. The bisection point (defined as the duration classified as "long" on 50% of trials) was located at 0.43 sec in the 0.2-0.8 group, and at 0.46 sec in the 0.1-0.9 group. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 using a within-subject procedure. The bisection point of both 0.2- and 0.8 sec and 0.1- and 0.9-sec durations was found to be 0.44 sec. Both experiments thus found the bisection point to be located at a duration just lower than the arithmetic mean of the standard short and long durations, rather than at the geometric mean, as in animal experiments. Some other performance measures, such as difference limen, and Weber ratio, were, however, of similar values to those found in bisection tasks with animals. A theoretical model assuming that humans bisect by taking the difference between a presented duration and the short and long standards, as well as having a bias to respond "long", fitted the data well. The model incorporated scalar representations of standard durations and thus illustrated a way in which the obtained results, although different from those found with animal subjects, could be reconciled with scalar timing theory.     

Effect of following an excitatory-inhibitory compound with an intermediate reinforcer

Pavlovian-conditioned inhibition training of the form A++, AB- (where ++ is a strong reinforcer and - is nonreinforcement) was conducted in 3 experiments with rats and 1 with pigeons. Then AB+ training was given (in which + is an effective reinforcer that is weaker than ++). The + reinforcer was achieved by reducing the frequency, lessening the amount, or lengthening the delay with which ++ was delivered. All 4 experiments found the AB+ treatment to enhance responding to both the excitatory A and the inhibitory B in comparison with untreated control stimuli. However, when appropriate assessments were made, the increase was more substantial for the inhibitory B. This pattern of results presents challenges for most current theories of associative learning.     

Experiences of Australian Siblings of an Individual With an Autism Spectrum Disorder

The experiences of 75 non-Autism Spectrum Disorder (NASD) children and adolescents who had a sibling with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were investigated. Differences were found according to age and gender for issues such as amount of time spent with their sibling and access to parents. Having a younger sibling with an ASD was associated with a lower level of confidence in being to live their lives as they wished. Female NASD participants commented that their lives were more influenced than male NASD participants. About half of all NASD participants reported inconsistencies in family rule adherences and parental expectation.     

Sine of an illusion

In an informally observed sine-wave figure in which the vertical extent between contours was constant, apparent extent in the crest and trough (the 'turns') appeared greater than in the straight oblique sections of the figure. This observation was confirmed in two experiments in which the vertical extents were matched by two vertically arranged dots. It was found that in a turn the apparent extent was greater than the true extent, but in a straight section both extents were about equal. These outcomes were confirmed when the two sections were each separated from the figure and presented alone. The illusion is explained in terms of a perceptual compromise between the vertical extent and the greater overall dimensions of the section at the turn of the sine-wave figure and is thereby held to be the same in principle as the Müller-Lyer illusion.     

Reflecting on being an effective teacher in an age of measurement

This reflective study examines what effective means in terms of teaching in secondary schools in England. The article questions whether quality assurance and observations produce better teachers or better ‘fabricators’. The study explores the pressures of performativity and the resulting fabrication: the ‘ticking of boxes’ in order to be classed as ‘outstanding’ and ‘effective’. A journey to recapture the pleasure in teaching and learning through reflective diaries will be considered. Here the process leads to the outcome without an overemphasis on assessment criteria and performativity or extrinsic motivators which can counter intrinsic motivation and professional judgement.     

Pretend play: an application of an intervention program in autism

Methodologically and theoretically based on metarrepresentational deficit hypothesis, we design an intervention to teach the mental state of pretense to an autistic boy. The production and comprehension of symbolic play by means of the use of two specific strategies founded on pictorial analogy of the mental representation and process, was the focus of the learning. The efficiency and efectiveness of the program is reflected in the results that indicated the subject's competence to generate and comprehend the pretense as well as to generalize the acquired knowledge into other areas of mentalistic functioning. We discuss the possibility to develop a metarrepresentational knowledge based on the internalizing of the strategies of conceptual support.     

Empowerment and team effectiveness: an empirical test of an integrated model

The authors developed a model of team empowerment as an emergent state linking inputs (I) with processes (P) and, thereby, with outcomes (O) in the context of an expanded team IPO framework. Using survey responses from 452 members of 121 empowered service technician teams, along with archival quantitative performance and customer satisfaction criteria, the authors tested the model using structural equation modeling techniques. The model was generally supported, although areas for improvement were evident. Specifically, empowerment partially mediated the influences of various inputs on team processes, whereas team processes fully mediated the influence of empowerment on outcomes. Directions for future research and application are discussed.     

Characterizing the time course of an implicature: an evoked potentials study

This work employs Evoked Potential techniques as 19 participants are confronted with sentences that have the potential to produce scalar implicatures, like in Some elephants have trunks. Such an Underinformative utterance is of interest to pragmatists because it can be considered to have two different truth values. It can be considered true when taken at face value but false if one were to treat Some with the implicature Not All. Two accounts of implicature production are compared. The neo-Gricean approach (e.g., Levinson, 2000) assumes that implicatures intrude automatically on the semantics of a term like Some. Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1985/1996) assumes that implicatures are effortful and not automatic. In this experiment, the participants are presented with 25 Underinformative sentences along with 25 sentences that are Patently True (e.g. Some houses have bricks) and 25 that are Patently False (e.g. Some crows have radios). As reported in an earlier study (Noveck, 2001), Underinformative sentences prompt strong individual differences. Seven participants here responded true to all (or nearly all) of the Underinformative sentences and the remaining 12 responded false to all (or nearly all) of them. The present study showed that those who responded false to the Underinformative sentences took significantly longer to do so that those who responded true. The ERP data indicate that: (a) the Patently True and Patently False sentences prompt steeper N400's--indicating greater semantic integration--than the Underinformative sentences and that (b) regardless of one's ultimate response to the Underinformative sentences, the N400's were remarkably flat, indicating no particular reaction to these sentences. Collectively, the data are taken to show that implicatures are part of a late-arriving, effort-demanding decision process.     

Communication Networks in the Diffusion of an Innovation in an Organization1

Research on decision-making processes and the diffusion of innovations in organizations has been focused on the influence of formal organizational structures. Since the successful implementation of most innovations requires the cooperation of employees, it is important to investigate how employees' knowledge, opinions, and individual decisions concerning an innovation are influenced by other employees. The present study investigates how information acquisition and adoption decisions of employees are influenced by the quantity and strength of their informal communication ties in the organization, and how strong this influence is in comparison with influence from formal communication sources. Results indicate that formal communication sources contributed more to the process of information diffusion, whereas informal communication sources (especially the employees' strong ties), were more influential on attitudes and adoption intentions.     

False recollection of the role played by an actor in an event

Two experiments demonstrated that eyewitnesses more frequently associate an actor with the actions of another person when those two people had appeared together in the same event, rather than in different events. This greater likelihood of binding an actor with the actions of another person from the same event was associated with high-confidence recognition judgments and “remember” responses in a remember–know task, suggesting that viewing an actor together with the actions of another person led participants to falsely recollect having seen that actor perform those actions. An analysis of age differences provided evidence that familiarity also contributed to false recognition independently of a false-recollection mechanism. In particular, older adults were more likely than young adults to falsely recognize a novel conjunction of a familiar actor and action, regardless of whether that actor and action were from the same or from different events. Older adults’ elevated rate of false recognition was associated with intermediate confidence levels, suggesting that it stemmed from increased reliance on familiarity rather than from false recollection. The implications of these results are discussed for theories of conjunction errors in memory and of unconscious transference in eyewitness testimony.     

Generating an image from an ambiguous visual input: an electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation

Fourteen right-handed males were shown slides of common objects (e.g., wristwatch), familiar situations (e.g., two people shaking hands), and inkblots from a popular projective test (Holtzman, 1986) and then asked to name the object, assess the situation, or describe the most salient image emerging from the inkblot. Alpha power suppression was monitored over the left and right frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes to determine the brain circuitry responsible for the processing of each type of stimulus. When processing common objects and familiar situations there was bilateral activation of the parietal and occipital lobes; when processing inkblots, bilateral activation of the parietal and occipital lobes was again obtained, but complemented by selective activation of the right frontal lobe. The later suggests that anterior regions of the right cerebral hemisphere contribute to the generation of dynamic images like those evoked by visually ambiguous inkblots.     

我用一道"符"治好一位病人

我是精神科医生,退休在家,有人找我看病,我就给看。2003年3月4日晚7:00时左右,来了一