Catalog of scaled verbal material

Atotal of 172 studies presenting informationon scaledverbal material (letters, CVCs, words, ete.) were summarized and indexed. For each study, the following information was abstracted: kind of materials, type and number of subjects, task, and data presentation format. These studies were indexed accordingto the type of materials sealed and, within material type, by type of seale information (objective information, subjective rating, or subject production). All studies were from a readily accessible English language source.     

Catalog of scaled verbal material

Atotal of 172 studies presenting informationon scaledverbal material (letters, CVCs, words, ete.) were summarized and indexed. For each study, the following information was abstracted: kind of materials, type and number of subjects, task, and data presentation format. These studies were indexed accordingto the type of materials sealed and, within material type, by type of seale information (objective information, subjective rating, or subject production). All studies were from a readily accessible English language source.     

Relationships among projective and direct verbal measures of achievement motivation

The present study was undertaken to explore ways projective arid nonprojective verbal measures of achievement motivation elicit comparable and dissimilar responses in a "Third World" sample of entrepreneurs as a test of McClelland's theory of economic growth. Results were generally consistent with the theory of achievement motivation, and suggested that high scores on n Ach were associated with high rates of industrial and agricultural output; low scores were associated with static or declining business. TAT measurement was the best predictor in that it correlated 0.68 and 0.48 with agricultural and industrial production. Results further lend support to past findings: namely, that Various achievement measures appear to be measuring dissimilar constructs.     

Unrepresentativeness of studies on memory of verbal material

Blakar, R. M. Unrepresentativeness of studies on memory of verbal material. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 9–11. -The dominant traditions in studying memory of verbal material are criticized for lack of representativeness in that the stimulus material is particularistic, "meaningless" or presented out of relevant contexts, and presented more than once. When 27 letters were arranged in three lists of nine trigrams as (1) nonsense syllables, (2) common Norwegian words, and (3) a meaningful sentence of these words, and presented once in this order to seven subjects, mean number of letters recalled was 10, 23, and 27, respectively, indicating that the traditional and still dominant methods of research strip memory of one of its most effective means: the rules for grasping and organizing meaning.     

The hippocampus and memory of verbal and pictorial material

Recognition of words and kaleidoscope pictures showed a double dissociation of left and right hippocampal activity using magnetic source imaging (MSI). MSI has advantages over alternative imaging techniques that measure hemodynamic changes for identifying regional changes in brain activity in real time and on an individual subject basis without the need for image subtraction. In this study, lists of words or kaleidoscope pictures were presented for memorization followed by tests of list items and foils during which brain activity was recorded. There was greater activation in the left than the right hippocampus with abstract nouns (e.g., relief) and greater activation in the right than the left hippocampus with kaleidoscope pictures. This dissociation was evident on a case by case basis. This study demonstrates the specialization of the two medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions, including the hippocampi, for mnemonic processing of verbal and pictorial items that are difficult to encode verbally.     

A cognitive-perceptual analysis of projective tests used with children.

There are both general and specific problems with projective tests--the production, comprehension, and interpretation of two-dimensional visual representations. At the general level, there is a need to integrate findings from the neuro- and cognitive sciences, cognitive, perceptual, and affective development, and the understanding and interpretation of pictorial material based on the accumulated research base in the arts. At the specific level, much of the research base on projective tests is poor or outdated; evidence for clinical utility is mixed or negative; and the tests possess poor reliability and validity while the putative underlying psychological process of projection" has not been subject to rigorous empirical examination--the term remains vague and elusive. While earlier critiques and reviews have focused on problems in validity and reliability, their has been a lack of attention to the development of children's pictorial abilities as pertain to projective techniques. Although many of the principles delineated here also apply to adolescents and adults, an important challenge for clinicians is to develop and employ better methods in the "projective" assessment of children.     

Controlled recall of verbal material in temporal lobe epilepsy

This study used a guided process‐dissociation procedure to examine the contribution of controlled and automatic uses of memory to a cued‐recall task in 24 patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE: 12 left‐sided; 12 right‐sided), and 12 neurotypical controls. In an inclusion task, participants attempted to complete three‐letter word stems using previously studied words, in an exclusion task they aimed to avoid using studied words to complete stems. Patients with left TLE produced fewer target completions under inclusion conditions. Completion rates were not significantly different under exclusion conditions. Estimates derived from process dissociation calculations, confirmed that the cued‐recall deficit in left TLE patients arose entirely from impairment in controlled memory processes. There were no group differences in the estimates of automatic processes. Recognition judgements of stems corresponding to studied words did not differ between the groups. Overall the results support the view that controlled and automatic memory processes are mediated by separable neural systems. Hippocampal and related structures within the left MTL are more important than corresponding right hemisphere structures for the controlled retrieval of verbal material. In contrast, the findings from this study do not suggest that the left and right temporal lobes make a differential contribution to automatic memory processing. The theoretical and clinical relevance of these findings are discussed.     

B.F. Skinner and the auditory inkblot: The rise and fall of the verbal summator as a projective technique

Behaviorist B.F. Skinner is not typically associated with the fields of personality assessment or projective testing. However, early in his career Skinner developed an instrument he named the verbal summator, which, at one point, he referred to as a device for "snaring out complexes," much like an auditory analogue of the Rorschach inkblots. Skinner's interest in the projective potential of his technique was relatively short lived, but whereas he used the verbal summator to generate experimental data for his theory of verbal behavior, several other clinicians and researchers exploited this potential and adapted the verbal summator technique for both research and applied purposes. The idea of an auditory inkblot struck many as a useful innovation, and the verbal summator spawned the tautophone test, the auditory apperception test, and the Azzageddi test, among others. This article traces the origin, development, and eventual demise of the verbal summator as an auditory projective technique.