Dichotic sequence discrimination: The effect of continued practice

Summary Dichotic sequence discrimination was studied by means of a three-alternative forced-choice method. Two of the alternatives (same) consisted of a single pair of dichotic clicks with the stimulus at one ear preceding the stimulus at the other ear by a given temporal separation (e.g., R-t-L). One of the alternatives consisted of a single pair of clicks with the opposite sequence (e.g., L-t-R). The subjects' task was to discriminate between the different and the same dichotic pairs. The results indicate that discrimination is a nonmonotonic function of t, i.e., V- or U-shaped, with high levels at both short and long temporal separations (t=2 and 4 ms and t=64 and 96 ms) and with lower levels of discrimination for intermediate ts. A second experiment was performed to study the effect of continued practice by subjects trained in dichotic sequence discrimination for ts 4 and 64 ms (high discrimination levels) and for t=16 ms (low discrimination level). There was no systematic trend towards improvement over 8 blocks of 50 trials for each t. Discrimination levels of these ts did not differ between Experiments 1 and 2.Dr. Babkoff is spending the 1979–1981 academic year at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Department of Military Medical Psychophysiology, Forest Glen Annex, Building 189, Washington, D.C. 20012, USAThe experiments were conducted at the Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. The authors would like to thank the Bar-Ilan Research Committee for making funds available to conduct the experimentsThis material has been reviewed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and there is no objection to its presentation and/or publication. The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense     

On the use of bisection procedures in animal psychophysical scaling

The ability of bisection procedures to specify the form of the psychophysical scale depends upon the precision of the technique. It is demonstrated that the precision of bisection techniques is a function of the stimulus interval bisected. Consequently, the choice of stimuli in a bisection experiment may predispose the ability of the experiment to distinguish between alternative psychophysical scales. The testing of interval scale properties of derived scales and the assessment of context effects in bisection experiments was also discussed.This material has been reviewed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and there is no objection to its presentation and/or publication. The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the author and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the view of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.     

Scales,diagnoses, and child psychopathology: II. Comparing the CBCL and the DISC against external validators

Using a multimethod multistage screening procedure, the authors interviewed 201 parents and their children with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC 2.1). In addition, parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and other survey measures, while their children completed self-report scales. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were done to determine optimal cutpoints on the CBCL, referenced to DISC diagnostic caseness. DISC diagnoses, DISC stem symptoms, CBCL scores, and CBCL ROC-cutpoints were compared against external validators, in order to determine the comparative advantages of each approach for assessing child psychopathology. Overall findings suggest that the controversies about best assessment strategies may be artificial: When both assessment approaches are compared using similar methods, they are reasonably comparable. However, highly specific diagnostic categories may show fewer relationships with external validators and may therefore need more systematic validational studies.The opinions and assertions contained in this paper are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, or the Department of the Army.     

Behavioral sequelae of exposure to high power microwave fields

Behavioral sequelae of exposure to high peak power microwave pulses, similar to those produced by operational radar systems and experimental, directed energy weapons systems, were studied using rats trained on fixed-ratio, variable-interval, and differential reinforcement-of-low rate schedules. Ten minute exposures to 240, 720, 2160, and 6480 pulses at a 1 Megawatt peak power level caused a rectal temperature rise of 0.7 to 2.5°C in the animals. Regardless of their schedule of reinforcement, animals exposed to the highest dose level failed to respond, on the average, for 13 minutes after the exposure when they were placed in operant conditioning chambers. However, as soon as their rectal temperatures decreased, responding resumed and no further changes in response pattern were exhibited. No long-term effects were observed in exposed animals. Thus, the behavioral effects that were seen were thermal in nature and independent of the pulsed nature of the fields. This research was supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command under the contract # DAMD 17-85-C-5083 awarded to ERC BioServices Corporation and was conducted at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Department of Microwave Research. The research was conducted in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and other Federal statutes and regulations relating to animals and experiments involving animals. This study adheres to the principles stated in theGuide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, NIH publication 85-23. The views of the author do not purport to reflect the position of the Department of Defense of the Department of the Army (Para 4-3, AR 360-5).     

Behavioral sequelae of exposure to high power microwave fields

Behavioral sequelae of exposure to high peak power microwave pulses, similar to those produced by operational radar systems and experimental, directed energy weapons systems, were studied using rats trained on fixed-ratio, variable-interval, and differential reinforcement-of-low rate schedules. Ten minute exposures to 240, 720, 2160, and 6480 pulses at a 1 Megawatt peak power level caused a rectal temperature rise of 0.7 to 2.5°C in the animals. Regardless of their schedule of reinforcement, animals exposed to the highest dose level failed to respond, on the average, for 13 minutes after the exposure when they were placed in operant conditioning chambers. However, as soon as their rectal temperatures decreased, responding resumed and no further changes in response pattern were exhibited. No long-term effects were observed in exposed animals. Thus, the behavioral effects that were seen were thermal in nature and independent of the pulsed nature of the fields. This research was supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command under the contract # DAMD 17-85-C-5083 awarded to ERC BioServices Corporation and was conducted at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Department of Microwave Research. The research was conducted in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and other Federal statutes and regulations relating to animals and experiments involving animals. This study adheres to the principles stated in theGuide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, NIH publication 85-23. The views of the author do not purport to reflect the position of the Department of Defense of the Department of the Army (Para 4-3, AR 360-5).     

∑ 0 n -equivalence relations

In this paper we study the reducibility order _m (defined in a natural way) over _n ⁰ -equivalence relations. In particular, for every n> 0 we exhibit _n ⁰ -equivalence relations which are complete with respect to _m and investigate some consequences of this fact (see Introduction).     

Sex trait stereotypes in Malaysian children

To examine the development of sex trait stereotypes in Malaysia, 40 5-year-old and 40 8-year-old children were tested with the Sex Stereotype Measurement II. Data were subjected to an item-level analysis, a 2×2×2 mixed design analysis of variance, and cross-cultural comparisons. Results revealed that (1) stereotyping increases with age (p.005), (2) male traits are identified more correctly than female traits (p.005), and (3) boys are more familiar with the male stereotype than are girls (p.025). Cross-cultural comparisons indicate that, relative to 23 other countries, Malaysian 5 year olds produce high stereotype scores but that data from 8 year olds fall more within the median range. The results are interpreted in terms of cognitive development and socialization patterns in Malaysia's multiracial developing society.This research is adapted from a paper presented at the Asian Regional Workshop on Child and Adolescent Development, Bangkok, February 1982.     

Axiomatization and completeness of uncountably valued approximation logic

A first order uncountably valued logicL _Q(0,1) for management of uncertainty is considered. It is obtained from approximation logicsL _T of any poset type (T, ) (see Rasiowa [17], [18], [19]) by assuming (T, )=(Q(0, 1), ) — whereQ(0, 1) is the set of all rational numbersq such that 0<q<1 and is the arithmetic ordering — by eliminating modal connectives and adopting a semantics based onLT-fuzzy sets (see Rasiowa and Cat Ho [20], [21]). LogicL _Q(0,1) can be treated as an important case ofLT-fuzzy logics (introduced in Rasiowa and Cat Ho [21]) for (T, )=(Q(0, 1), ), i.e. asLQ(0, 1)-fuzzy logic announced in [21] but first examined in this paper.L _Q(0,1) deals with vague concepts represented by predicate formulas and applies approximate truth-values being certain subsets ofQ(0, 1). The set of all approximate truth-values consists of the empty set ø and all non-empty subsetss ofQ(0, 1) such that ifqs andqq, thenqs. The setLQ(0, 1) of all approximate truth-values is uncountable and covers up to monomorphism the closed interval [0, 1] of the real line.LQ(0, 1) is a complete set lattice and therefore a pseudo-Boolean (Heyting) algebra. Equipped with some additional operations it is a basic plain semi-Post algebra of typeQ(0, 1) (see Rasiowa and Cat Ho [20]) and is taken as a truth-table forL _Q(0,1) logic.L _Q(0,1) can be considered as a modification of Zadeh's fuzzy logic (see Bellman and Zadeh [2] and Zadeh and Kacprzyk, eds. [29]). The aim of this paper is an axiomatization of logicL _Q(0,1) and proofs of the completeness theorem and of the theorem on the existence ofLQ(0, 1)-models (i.e. models under the semantics introduced) for consistent theories based on any denumerable set of specific axioms. Proofs apply the theory of plain semi-Post algebras investigated in Cat Ho and Rasiowa [4].Presented byCecylia Rauszer     

Assertive training: An adjunct to fluency shaping

“Assertive Training” has been utilized as an adjunct therapy in a six week residential program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The speech pathology staff in conjunction with the psychology staff determined that a persistent problem with long term success after patients were dismissed from therapy was largely due to a “behavioral deficit” in their interpersonal verbal confrontations. The anxiety resulting from such communication failure simply chips away at the self confidence needed to maintain a working level of fluency, resulting in a “snowballing” effect back to dysfluency.

Thus, the goals and procedures of assertive training for stutterers are discussed as a means to shape more effective skills in relating to others in difficult situations. Pre, post and six month follow-up data are presented.     

British parents' beliefs about the causes of three forms of childhood psychological disturbance

Parents were asked to rate which of 40 items were likely causes of one of three types of psychological disturbance common among 9-year-old children, the symptoms of which were outlined in vignettes. Parents' accounts were consistent and coherent. Symptoms of hyperactivity were linked to poor diet, antisocial conduct to a lack of discipline and unhappiness at school, and emotional problems to breakdowns in interpersonal relations and unhppiness at school. However, a number of factors (socioeconomic difficulties, attachment risks, and organic dysfunction) that research suggests are risks to development were rated by parents as unlikely causes of problems. The implications of this mismatch between lay and expert views is examined.We would like to thank Dr. Margaret Thompson for her clinical advice as well as the parents who took part in the study.     

“Paging Dr. Lauben! Dr. Gustav Lauben!”: Some Questions about Individualism and Competence

In several works, Frege argues that content is objective (i.e., thethoughts we entertain and communicate, and the senses of which theyare composed, are public, not private, property). There are, however,some remarks in the Fregean corpus that are in tension with this view.This paper is centered on an investigation of the most notorious andextreme such passage: the `Dr. Lauben example, from Frege (1918). Aprincipal aim is to attain more clarity on the evident tension withinFreges views on content, between this dominant objectivism and someelements that seem to run counter to it, via developing an understandingof the `Dr. Lauben example. Then I will argue that this interpretation goes some way toward undermining some prevalent contemporary viewsabout language. Based on the advice of Dr. Lauben, I will argue againsta certain understanding of the causal-historical theory of reference –more specifically, of the phenomenon of deferential uses of linguisticexpressions – upon which these views are premised, and I will drawout some morals that pertain to individualism and competence.     

A study of male and female soldiers' beliefs about the “appropriateness” of various jobs for women in the army

The purpose of this paper is to document the often discussed (e.g., Goldman, 1973) and recently initiated expansion of women's role in the U.S. Army and to present evidence regarding one aspect of soldiers' probable reaction to this expansion — viz., the extent to which soldiers believe certain military jobs are appropriate for women and, in particular, the extent to which these beliefs are related to respondent sex, rank, and expectation of leaving the Army before retirement.     

Paraconsistent algebras

The prepositional calculiC _n , 1 n introduced by N.C.A. da Costa constitute special kinds of paraconsistent logics. A question which remained open for some time concerned whether it was possible to obtain a Lindenbaum's algebra forC _n . C. Mortensen settled the problem, proving that no equivalence relation forC _n . determines a non-trivial quotient algebra.The concept of da Costa algebra, which reflects most of the logical properties ofC _n , as well as the concept of paraconsistent closure system, are introduced in this paper.We show that every da Costa algebra is isomorphic with a paraconsistent algebra of sets, and that the closure system of all filters of a da Costa algebra is paraconsistent.     

A measure for the distance between an interval hypothesis and the truth

The problem of distance from the truth, and more generally distance between hypotheses, is considered here with respect to the case of quantitative hypotheses concerning the value of a given scientific quantity.Our main goal consists in the explication of the concept of distance D(I, ) between an interval hypothesis I and a point hypothesis . In particular, we attempt to give an axiomatic foundation of this notion on the basis of a small number of adequacy conditions.Moreover, the distance function introduced here is employed for the reformulation of the approach to scientific inference — developed by Hintikka, Levi and other scholars — labelled cognitive decision theory. In this connection, we supply a concrete illustration of the rules for inductive acceptance of interval hypotheses that can be obtained on the basis of D(I, ).Lastly, our approach is compared with other proposals made in literature about verisimilitude and distance from the truth.I am grateful for the possibility of spending a period of some months at the Department of Philosophy of University of Gröningen. I profited there a lot from the supervision by Dr. Theo Kuipers. I am also grateful to Prof. Ilkka Niiniluoto who gave rise to my interest in this kind of research during a period spent at Department of Philosophy of University of Helsinki, and who made a number of useful suggestions in the final stage of this paper. Moreover, I would like to thank Dr. Carlo Buttasi for suggesting a better formulation of the proof of (T.24).     

Logics of some kripke frames connected with Medvedev notion of informational types

Intermediate prepositional logics we consider here describe the setI() of regular informational types introduced by Yu. T. Medvedev [7]. He showed thatI() is a Heyting algebra. This algebra gives rise to the logic of infinite problems from [13] denoted here asLM ₁. Some other definitions of negation inI() lead to logicsLM _n (n ). We study inclusions between these and other systems, proveLM _n to be non-finitely axiomatizable (n ) and recursively axiomatizable (n < ). We also show that formulas in one variable do not separateLM from Heyting's logicH, andLM _n (n < ) from Scott's logic (H+S).     

Generalizability of scores influenced by multiple sources of variance

Generalizability theory concerns the adequacy with which a universe score can be inferred from a set of observations. In this paper the theory is applied to a universe in which observations are classifiable according to two independent variable aspects of the measuring procedure. Several types of universe scores are developed and the variance components ascertained for each type. The composition of expected observed-score variance and the adequacy of inference to a particular type of universe score is a function of the procedure used in gathering data. A generalizability study provides estimates of variance components which can be used in designing an efficient procedure for a particular decision purpose.This study was conducted under Grant M-1839 from the National Institute of Mental Health while the authors were on the staff of the University of Illinois. Dr. Rajaratnam shared responsibility for the technical report of July, 1961 on which this paper is based. The present revision was made subsequent to her death in 1963. The present addresses of the other authors are: Goldine C. Gleser, Department of Psychiatry, Central Clinic, Cincinatti, 29, Ohio; Lee J. Cronbach, School of Education, Stanford University.     

Wissenserzeugung durch Beobachter?nderung

This article demonstrates that theory-laden perception is a pure fiction of some philosophers of science and does not in fact exist. It shows by examples from L. Fleck that non-neutral or person-bound observation is an important source of scientific knowledge and suggests that we can explain those changes in scientific knowledge that are caused by divergent perceptions of different observers by means of differences in the repertoires of visual concepts of the respective observers. Visual concept is introduced by means of a performance model of perception. It is contrasted with definable or language-generated concept and compared to Wittgenstein's family resemblance of concepts.

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Dieser Aufsatz geht zurück auf einen Vortrag im Kolloquium Beobachtung und Erfahrung an der TU Berlin im Februar 1984 unter Leitung von Herrn Prof. Dr. Hans Poser. Ich danke den Teilhehmern des Kolloquiums für Diskussion und Kritik sowie Herrn Prof. Dr. W. Lenzen und Herrn Prof. Dr. C.-U. Moulines.     

How Does Change Occur Within the Psychoanalytic Encounter?

On November 6, 2002, Dr. James Fosshage delivered the following talk at a Clinical Training Conference held at the Blanton-Peale Institute. The Clinical Training Conference at Blanton-Peale provides experiential and conceptual resources to support the therapist-in-training in the context of his/her professional identity. The training conference is attended by candidates of all phases of the Psychoanalytic Program, the Pastoral Psychotherapy Program, and the Marriage and Family Program, as well as faculty members, administrators, staff, and interns of the institute. The residents were asked to review three articles written by Dr. Fosshage in preparation for his presentation: Toward Reconceptualising Transference: Theoretical and Clinical Considerations, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis (1994) 75 (2): 265–280; Countertransference as the Analyst's Experience of the Analysand: Influence of Listening Perspectives, Psychoanalytic Psychology (1995) 12 (3): 375–391; and Listening/Experiencing Perspectives and the Quest for a Facilitating Responsiveness, Conversations in Self Psychology: Progress in Self Psychology, (1997) 13: 33–55.     

To and from philosophy — Discussions with Gödel and Wittgenstein

I propose to sketch my views on several aspects of the philosophy of mathematics that I take to be especially relevant to philosophy as a whole. The relevance of my discussion would, I think, become more evident, if the reader keeps in mind the function of (the philosophy of) mathematics in philosophy in providing us with more transparent aspects of general issues. I shall consider: (1) three familiar examples; (2) logic and our conceptual frame; (3) communal agreement and objective certainty; (4) the transcommunal universality of mathematics; (5) the big jump to the potential infinite; (6) the reconciliation of local creation with the hypothesis of discovery; (7) Platonism as realism plus conceptualism; (8) foundational studies and mathematical practice; and (9) the decomposition of philosophical disagreements. The views of Gödel and Wittgenstein are emphasized in order to add specificity to the discussions.     

La Evolucion de la filosofia de Wittgenstein

Summary The author claims that there is a basic difference between theTractatus and thePhilosophical Investigations; despite Bernstein's and O'Brien's claims to the contrary, there are, indeed, two Wittgensteins. Yet, to ascertain the difference between both we must look at Wittgenstein's conceptions of philosophy rather than at his views on logic and language. Wittgenstein's different, and even divergent, views on logic and language are grounded on his two views on philosophy and not the other way around. At the same time, Wittgenstein's views on philosophy are caused by his ways of conceiving the scope of philosophical activity in regard to language. Both in theTractatus and in thePhilosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein points out what is important in language for philosophy, but in each case he reaches very different conclusions. Now, when all is said, there remains one unifying factor in all of Wittgenstein's investigations: it is the question of the logic of language, which shifts positions from theTractatus to theInvestigations, so that what was earlier a hidden structure becomes later the grammar of its indefinitely complexe uses.