The meaning of the mask matters: evidence of conceptual interference in the attentional blink

The rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experiment reported here investigated the role of conceptual interference in the attentional blink (AB). Subjects were presented with RSVP streams that contained five stimuli: Target 1, a distractor, Target 2, a second distractor, and a symbol mask. Target 1 was a green letter, Target 2 was a red letter, and the distractors were either white letters or white digits. The stimuli were presented in a font typically seen on the face of a digital watch. Thus, "S" and "O" were identical to "5" and "0," respectively. This allowed us to present streams that were conceptually different even though featurally identical: The two letter targets were followed by distractors that were recognized either as "5" and "0" or as "S" and "O." The AB was substantially attenuated when subjects were told the distractors were digits rather than letters. This result indicates that conceptual interference plays a role in the AB.     

GENDER ROLE AND POLITICAL OFFICE

Women are less represented in prestigious national political offices than they are in state and local offices. How this underrepresentation may be related to perceived characteristics of office and candidate are explored in the two studies described here. In Study 1, the "masculinity/femininity" of local, state, and national offices was analyzed; all levels of office were rated as more "masculine" than "feminine." In Study 2, the sex as well as the gender role of a hypothetical presidential candidate was varied. "Masculine" and male candidates were evaluated as being more competent on presidential tasks such as dealing with terrorism; "feminine" and female candidates were rated higher on tasks such as solving problems in our educational system. Men, regardless of gender role, were perceived as being more likely to win a presidential election, and "masculine" tasks were evaluated as being more important than "feminine" presidential tasks. Implications for future female politicians are discussed.     

幼儿自我调控的中日比较及其跨文化分析

实验以中日166名4、5岁幼儿为被试(其中中国幼儿84名,日本幼儿82名),采用故事法比较了中日幼儿在故事情境中的自我调控反应。结果表明:(1)中日幼儿自我调控的反应方式因交往对象的不同表现出了差异。在幼儿与成人的矛盾情境中,日本幼儿比中国幼儿表现出了更多的自我抑制反应,在幼儿与同伴的矛盾情境中,日本幼儿比中国幼儿表现出了更多的自我主张反应;不论在幼儿与成人的矛盾情境中还是在幼儿与同伴的矛盾情境中,中国幼儿都比日本幼儿表现出了更多的依赖成人反应。(2)中日幼儿自我调控的反应方式因情境类型的不同没有表现出差异。不论在幼儿与同伴的矛盾情境中,还是在幼儿与同伴的非矛盾情境中,日本幼儿比中国幼儿表现出了更多的自我主张反应,中国幼儿比日本幼儿表现出了更多的依赖成人和冲动行为反应。     

Backgrounds of higher suicide rates among "name university" students: a retrospective study of the past 25 years

Cases from the past 25 years of 143 students who committed suicide at Kyoto University, a "name university" in Japan since 1956, were investigated retrospectively. Then the total trends of the suicide rate were reexamined in comparison with a control group, and the recent trends after the student strife (1970) were confirmed in comparison with the 15-year period before the strife. Thus, using a longer time span, the total pattern of suicide could be reidentified as the "performance type" within an "achievement-oriented culture." Seemingly healthy students from normal homes have suddenly committed suicide in this recent "pupa within a cocoon" syndrome, resulting from "unbalanced personality development" in the context of modern mass higher education.     

新课程背景下上海市中小学教师职业角色认同的研究

本研究是在了解新课程背景所倡导的教师角色的基础上,对教师职业角色认同状况的调查和分析。结果发现：教师在职业角色认同上可以分两个组：“高认同组”和“一般认同组”。在调查的十个教师职业角色中,“教师是文化的传播者”;“教师是学生学习能力的培养者”;“教师是学生人生的引路人”处于角色认同排序的前三位,“教师是专家”、“教师是教育家”、“教师是社区型的开放的教师”处于排序的后三位,其余“教师是教育教学的研究者”;“教师是学生的心理顾问”;“教师是课程的建设者和开发者”和“教师是学者”居中。教师所处的学校类型、教师性别和是否担任行政职务,在职业角色认同上有非常显著和显著的差异。小学教师的职业角色认同要高于初中教师,初中教师又高于高中教师。女教师的职业角色认同要高于男教师。学校行政领导的职业角色认同要高于普通教师。     

Development of differences in response latencies to right and left visual fields

Robust lateralization developed in right-handed adults who were asked to judge letter pairs as "same" or "different" during 4608 trials. By the end of the first two blocks (768 trials) "same" responses were favored when presented in the RVF (transmitted directly to the left hemisphere) and "different" responses were favored when presented in the LVF (transmitted direction to the right hemisphere). This gradually reversed over sessions with "same" responses becoming faster for letters presented in the LVF, and "different" responses becoming faster for stimuli presented in the RVF. The laterality acquired under these conditions was cumulative and reproducible, appeared in all 16 subjects, and was preserved between sessions a week apart. The data suggest that laterality is a flexible and reversible characteristic of the human brain even when stimulus and task remain constant.     

Adjective ratings and dimension analyses of auditory rhythm patterns

Gabrielsson, A. Adjective ratings and dimension analyses of auditory rhythm patterns. Scand. J. psychol., 1973, 14, 244–260.-Rhythm experience for three classes of auditory rhythm stimuli, including music, was investigated by a variant of semantic differential technique in six experiments. The rating scales were chosen by means of questionnaires to musicians. The subjects rated the rhythms in a number of the scales and the ratings were subjected to factor analysis. The factors were interpreted as "uniformity-variation" or "simplicity-complexity", "accentuated first beat", "meter", "basic pattern", "rapidity", "movement characters" (floating-stuttering, dancing-walking and others), "vital-dull", "excited-calm", and "rigid-flexible".     

"Knowledge by acquaintance" and "Knowledge-about": A psychometrical demonstration

In two studies, students were asked to rate their knowledge of a number of different topics, extracurricular as well as drawn from their textbooks of the history of psychology and philosophy. The score distributions on a scale from "unknown" to "well known" were in all cases distinctly U-formed, as if knowledge were a question of either/or, rather than one of degree. However, when knowledge was rated on a scale from "know nothing about" to "know much about", the U-pattern failed to appear, and the students tended generally to give more cautious ratings. The differences are interpreted as evidence for the philosophical and linguistic distinction between "knowledge by acquaintance" (German: "kennen", French: "connaître") and "knowledge-about" (German: "wissen", French: "savoir").     

EEG source imaging during two Qigong meditations

Experienced Qigong meditators who regularly perform the exercises "Thinking of Nothing" and "Qigong" were studied with multichannel EEG source imaging during their meditations. The intracerebral localization of brain electric activity during the two meditation conditions was compared using sLORETA functional EEG tomography. Differences between conditions were assessed using t statistics (corrected for multiple testing) on the normalized and log-transformed current density values of the sLORETA images. In the EEG alpha-2 frequency, 125 voxels differed significantly; all were more active during "Qigong" than "Thinking of Nothing," forming a single cluster in parietal Brodmann areas 5, 7, 31, and 40, all in the right hemisphere. In the EEG beta-1 frequency, 37 voxels differed significantly; all were more active during "Thinking of Nothing" than "Qigong," forming a single cluster in prefrontal Brodmann areas 6, 8, and 9, all in the left hemisphere. Compared to combined initial-final no-task resting, "Qigong" showed activation in posterior areas whereas "Thinking of Nothing" showed activation in anterior areas. The stronger activity of posterior (right) parietal areas during "Qigong" and anterior (left) prefrontal areas during "Thinking of Nothing" may reflect a predominance of self-reference, attention and input-centered processing in the "Qigong" meditation, and of control-centered processing in the "Thinking of Nothing" meditation.     

Cultures of Exile: Diasporic Identities and the "Imaginations" of Africa and India in the Caribbean

In this article, I explore the similarities and differences in the way Africa and India were constructed, or how the notion of an idealized "home" as part of the diasporic imagination was "imagined" by peoples of African and Indian origins in the Caribbean. How do diaspora discourses construct homes away from homes in the context of cultural dislocation and displacement? How were imagined Africa and imagined India constructed, and who were the constructors of these two imagined communities? I argue that the "ideologies of return" that were articulated in these two movements were fundamentally different. Whereas the attempt to embrace a "lost" Africa was premised on physical repatriation and cultural return, the attempt to reconnect with a lost India was based essentially on symbolic projections, which saw Indian Caribbean peoples taking pride in being part of a great civilization and culture but not wanting to go back to India.     

内隐自尊的功能:缓冲器,还是滤波器

用内隐联想测验（IAT）测量被试的内隐自尊,通过成败操纵来检验内隐自尊的缓冲器假设。研究发现,无论面对成功反馈还是失败反馈,高内隐自尊者对自己的表现均比较满意,且成功时的满意度显著高于失败时的满意度;低内隐自尊者面对成功时对自己的表现满意,面对失败时对自己的表现不满意,且二者差异显著。这表明内隐自尊可能并非具有缓冲作用,而是具有滤波作用。较之低内隐自尊者,高内隐自尊者在应对压力或威胁时能够更多地过滤负面效应。据此,本文提出了内隐自尊的滤波器假设。     

Remembering left-right orientation of pictures

In a study of recognition memory for pictures, we observed an asymmetry in classifying test items as "same" versus "different" in left-right orientation: Identical copies of previously viewed items were classified more accurately than left-right reversals of those items. Response bias could not explain this asymmetry, and, moreover, correct "same" and "different" classifications were independently manipulable: Whereas repetition of input pictures (one vs. two presentations) affected primarily correct "same" classifications, retention interval (3 hr vs. 1 week) affected primarily correct "different" classifications. In addition, repetition but not retention interval affected judgments that previously seen pictures (both identical and reversed) were "old". These and additional findings supported a dual-process hypothesis that links "same" classifications to high familiarity, and "different" classifications to conscious sampling of images of previously viewed pictures.     

Electrophysiological indices of brain activity to "the" in discourse

In a first experiment, we recorded event-related-potentials (ERPs) to "the" followed by meaningful words (Story) versus "the" followed by nonsense syllables (Nonse). Left and right lateral anterior positivities (LAPs) were seen from the onset of "the" up to 200 ms in both conditions. Later than 200 ms following the onset of "the", the left and right LAPs continued for "the" in the Story, but were replaced by a negativity in the Nonse Condition. In a second experiment, ERPs were recorded to "the" in the Story and Nonse contexts mixed together under two different task instructions (attend to the auditory stimuli versus ignore the auditory stimuli). The same pattern of findings as Experiment 1 were observed for the Story and Nonse contexts when the participants attended to the auditory stimuli. Ignoring the auditory stimuli led to an attenuation of the right LAP, supporting the hypothesis that it is an index of discourse processing.     

共享概念的性质对拥有关系句子情景模型建立的影响

应用扇效应技术探讨共享概念的性质对建构拥有关系情境模型的影响。共包括2个实验,探讨在将“多人买1物”句式中的所购“物品”改变为隐含共同地点信息的“物品”条件下,被试对“多人买1物”拥有行为句式的学习是否表现出扇效应。结果表明,当所购物品隐含的相同地点信息的情况下,“多人买1物”的拥有行为句式无论是否具有明确的地点状语,都如同“1人买多物”的句式一样,没有表现出扇效应,与Radvanskv的研究结果不同。据此认为,只有在共享概念是属于情景模型建构的维度信息的情况下,有共享概念的信息才能整合为同一个情景模型。     

Parents' perception of environmental variables in pediatric offices.

In a study of 15 pediatric practices in the Greater Hartford, Connecticut area the effects of 16 reception room variables upon the comfort and behavior of children were investigated. A total of 300 parents were requested to rate the variables as to their relative importance to the child's comfort and behavior when well and when acutely ill. Variables were differentially ranked both within and between stiuations. The "human-oriented" variables were perceived as generally more important in the care of an acutely ill child. For the well child, a mixture of "human-oriented" and "physical" variables were perceived as having an impact on the comfort and behavior of the patient.     

The Effects of Commercials on Children’s Perceptions of Gender Appropriate Toy Use

Sixty-two first and second grade students (28 boys, 34 girls) were exposed to one of three commercial videotapes in which either all-boys (traditional condition) or all-girls (nontraditional) were playing with a toy. Participants in the control condition were exposed to nontoy commercials. After exposure to one of the conditions participants performed a toy sort where they were asked if six toys, including the two manipulated toys, were for boys, girls, or both boys and girls. Participants in the nontraditional condition were more likely to report that the manipulated toys were for both boys and girls than were participants in the traditional condition, who were more likely to report that the manipulated toys were for boys. This effect was stronger for boys than for girls.     

Behavioral momentum and stimulus fading in the acquisition and maintenance of child compliance in the home

The provision of a series of requests to which compliance is highly likely (high-probability requests) immediately antecedent to low-probability requests has been used to establish behavioral momentum of compliance. We evaluated a fading procedure for maintaining high levels of compliance obtained with high-probability requests. Fading involved a systematic reduction in the number of high-probability requests and an increase in the latency between the high- and low-probability requests. High levels of compliance for both "do" and "don't" requests were maintained for 16 weeks in a 5-year-old boy with developmental disabilities after the high-probability request sequence was faded. Similar maintenance was obtained for "do" requests in a 15-year-old girl with developmental disabilities. For this subject, however, the high-probability request sequence was ineffective with "don't" requests. When "don't" requests were phrased as "do" requests, the high-probability request sequence produced high levels of compliance to the low-probability request. High levels of compliance to these "do" requests were maintained for 16 weeks after the high-probability request sequence was faded.     

Interpreting idioms

Immediate comprehension processes involved in the interpretation of idiomatic expressions were investigate. Idioms like bury the hatchet were used in sentential contexts that (1) biased the listener toward a literal interpretation, (2) biased the listener toward a figurative interpretation, or (3) left the interpretation ambiguous between the literal and figurative readings. In control sentences, the final words of the idioms were used in nonidiomatic expressions. Listeners monitored the sentences for specified targets. In all cases, the target words were the final words of the idiomatic phrases. The listeners were instructed to detect words that were identical to cue words, that rhymed with the cue words, or that were members of semantic categories specified by cue words. Thus, hatchet was cued with either hatchet, ratchet, or a tool. Reaction-time latencies from the onset of the targets to the listeners' responses were obtained. Identity, Rhyme, and Category matches were detected more rapidly in all three idiomatic contexts than in the nonidiomatic controls. These results suggest that idioms are automatically processed as discrete lexical entries, and that previously observed reaction time advantages for figurative expressions may reflect integrative processes rather than retrieval of meaning.This research was supported by PHS Training Grant T32 MH 15134-02 from the National Institute of Mental Health. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August 1981.     

Intersubject variability in perceived oscillation as a function of threshold for binocular disparity.

Four groups of 15 female subjects each were classified along a quantitative dimension for proportion of perceived oscillation and threshold for binocular disparity. Analyses of variance showed that significant differences in proportion of perceived oscillation were accompanied by significant differences in threshold for binocular disparity for perceivers of "high" and "low" oscillation (p less than .05). For perceivers of "intermediate" oscillation significant differences in proportion of perceived oscillation but not threshold for binocular disparity were found. It was suggested that: (1) intersubject variability in perceived oscillation may be governed by the threshold for binocular disparity, (2) "low" perceivers may be especially sensitive to the magnitude of the cue, (3) "intermediate" perceivers' subjective reports may be primarily dependent on response criteria and the multiplicity of subjective factors which constitute it, (4) "high" perceivers apparently have least response sensitivity and they cannot maintain a consistent response criterion.