Context effects,reliability, and internal consistency of intermodal joint scaling

Context effects, intraindividual variability, and internal consistency of intermodal joint scaling with magnitude estimation (“magnitude matching”) were studied by instructing 12 subjects to judge the three pairs of odor intensity, loudness, and brightness on a common scale of perceived intensity as well as to judge odor intensity separately (unimodal magnitude estimation). Significant context effects were found by comparing odor intensity judgments obtained by separate versus intermodal joint scaling as well as across different modalities (loudness vs. brightness) in joint scaling. But no such effects were found for loudness or brightness when compared across modality of joint scaling. Intraindividual variability in the estimates imply about equal reliability in intermodal joint scaling and separate scaling. Good internal consistency was found, indicating that subjects are successful in expressing perceived intensities of different modalities on a common scale.     

Odor intensity after self-adaptation and cross-adaptation

Psychophysical functions for the odor intensity of n-propanol and n-pentanol were obtained after no adaptation and after self-adaptation and cross-adaptation. Adaptation caused the psychophysical function to become steeper and generally concave downward in log-log coordinates. Increase in the in tensity of a: self-adapting stimulus produced relatively greater increases in the steepness of the functions than did increases in adapting duration. A comparison between the odorants revealed that propanol and pentanol have equal self-adapting effects when their respective adapting concentrations are matched for subjective intensity. Cross-adaptation had approximately the same effect as self-adaptation on the form of the psychophysical function, but a cross-adapting stimulus of a specified subjective intensity was less effective than a self-adapting stimulus of the same intensity. Adaptation to pentanol caused a larger reduction in the perceived intensity of propanol than adaptation to propanol caused in the perceived intensity of pentanol.     

Determinants of subjective contour: Bourdon illusions and “unbending” effects

Wenderoth and O’Connor (1987b) reported that, although matches to the straight edge of two triangles placed apex to apex revealed an apparent bending in the direction of the chevron formed by the hypotenuse pair (the Bourdon effect), no perceptual unbending of the bent chevron occurred. Using subjective contour figures, Walker and Shank (1988b) found large and approximately equal bending and unbending effects, consistent with two theories that they proposed. In Experiment 1, using adjustable chevron matching and subjective contours, we found that Bourdon effects, equivalent in magnitude to those reported by Walker and Shank, were 4–5 times larger than unbending effects. In Experiment 2, we used a variation of Walker and Shank’s measurement technique, in which subjects selected a matching angle from a graded series. We obtained Bourdon effects similar to those in Experiment 1, but much larger unbending effects. Nevertheless, Bourdon effects were significantly larger than unbending effects in one set of data; and in another, Bourdon test means were larger than unbending test means. In both data sets, there was a large and significant pretest bending effect, which enhanced the magnitude of unbending test minus pretest scores. These results were consistent with our theory but not the theories of Walker and Shank. The variance of unbending test matches, 3–4 times that of Bourdon test matches, reflected the task difficulty. We propose that subjective obtuse angle contraction that exceeds real obtuse angle contraction explains the fact that unbending effects are larger in subjective than in real contours.     

Subject differences in cross-modality matching

Forty-eight Ss performed four tasks each: (1) magnitude estimation of area, (2) magnitude estimation of numerousness, (3) cross-modality matching of force of handgrip to area, and (4) cross-modality matching of force of handgrip to numerousness. An additional 48 Ss performed Tasks 2 and 4. Psychophysical power functions were fitted to the data of each S for each condition. Higher correlations between individual exponents were found for conditions employing a common response (i.e., estimating or squeezing) than were found for conditions with the same set of stimuli. Individual differences among exponents stem more from the idiosyncratic use of the dependent variable than from different sensory characteristics.     

Pilot Study Investigating the Role of Therapy Dogs in Facilitating Social Interaction among Children with Autism

Ten children with autism, aged 7–10, attended 14 individual sessions of social interaction therapy. A group-comparison design was adopted. Comparing two interventions, matching and random assignment were used to form the experimental group (Animal-Assisted Play Therapy with a therapy dog) and the comparison group (an identical play therapy procedure using a doll as the dog surrogate). The within-group results using nonparametric tests showed that verbal social behavior increased significantly in the experimental group. Although the magnitude of this increase was not significantly larger than that in the comparison group, the preliminary findings suggested that the therapy dog had a positive impact on language output. The results are discussed in terms of the role that a therapy dog can fulfill as a “Speech Elicitor” for children with autism.     

The psychological relationship between lightness and saturation

Lightness and saturation, though independent in a physical sense, have often been seen to be psychologically related. The first experiment uses a multidimensional scaling technique to again verify this nonindependence for untrained Os. A further experiment, using a matching technique, quantifies this relationship, giving the extent of the error in lightness for varying levels of saturation. This relationship is found to be independent of hue if saturation is measured by the colorimetric purity of the hue. Errors in value (lightness on the Munsell system) were found to be linearly related to colorimetric purity.     

Reaction time to different wavelengths at various luminances

The present investigation is concerned with determining whether or not differences in the reaction times exist in a human subject’s responses to 6 different wavelengths equated at 5 levels of luminance. The heterochromatic matching was done by the method of flicker photometry and checked by the method of direct comparison. Simple reaction time, the time interval starting with the presentation of a visual stimulus and terminating in a manual response, was used as the method of determining the latencies for the establishment of equal sensory effects for the different wavelengths. Monocular viewing of the stimuli was used by two subjects and reaction times are determined over a luminance range of 5.2 log units around a central value of I millilambert. The results indicated that simple reaction time is inversely related to stimulus luminance. There were no differences in the reaction times to the different wavelengths at the four highest luminance levels; at the lowest luminance level, the wave-lengths fan out in a manner that is in line with the classical data of vision. In other words, the visual functions obtained with simple reaction time parallel certain well-known visual functions in intensity discrimination, flicker and visual acutty-the results may be accounted for by the Duplicity Theory of vision.     

PERCEIVED INTENSITY OF ODOR AS A FUNCTION OF TIME OF ADAPTATION

The perceived intensity of odor under conditions of constant stimulation with hydrogen sulphide was investigated in two experiments. A two-step scaling method, involving cross-modality matching and numerical scaling of the matching continuum, was used for measuring intensity of odor. Perceptual intensity was found to decrease exponentially with increase of time of stimulation. Preliminary data concerning the subsequent recovery phase were also obtained.     

Water taste in man

Taste quality and intensity shifts following adaptation to NaCl, quinine hydrochloride, sucrose and HCl were investigated in 10 Ss. In each of four sessions, Ss were adapted to water and two concentrations of one taste solution and gave magnitude estimates and quality judgments for a series of concentrations of that solution. Adapting to water produced magnitude estimates which increased with increasing concentration. Quality judgments were typical, e.g., “salty” for NaCl. Adapting to moderate concentrations of taste solutions generally produced magnitude estimates of zero at the adapting concentrations and increasing values for higher and lower (sub-adapting) concentrations. Sub-adapting tastes were atypical. Adaptation to NaCl and sucrose produced bitter sub-adapting tastes and adaptation to HCl and quinine hydrochloride produced sweet sub-adapting tastes. Water, as the lowest sub-adapting “concentration”, produced the largest sub-adapting tastes.     

Brightness and loudness as functions of stimulus duration

The brightness of white light and the loudness of white noise were measured by magnitude estimation for sets of stimuli that varied in intensity and duration. Brightness and loudness both grow as power functions of duration up to a critical duration, beyond which apparent magnitude is essentially independent of duration. For brightness, the critical duration decreases with increasing intensity, but for loudness the critical duration is nearly constant at about 150 msec. Loudness and brightness also grow as power functions of intensity. The loudness exponent is the same for all durations, but the brightness exponent is about half again as large for short durations as for long. The psychophysical power functions were used to generate equal-loudness and equal-brightness functions, which specify the combinations of intensity E and duration T that produce the same apparent magnitude. Below the critical duration ET equals k for equal brightness, and ET^a equa Is k for equal loudness. The value a is about 0.7 for threshold and about 1.25 for supraliminal loudness.     

Brightness and loudness as functions of stimulus duration

The brightness of white light and the loudness of white noise were measured by magnitude estimation for sets of stimuli that varied in intensity and duration. Brightness and loudness both grow as power functions of duration up to a critical duration, beyond which apparent magnitude is essentially independent of duration. For brightness, the critical duration decreases with increasing intensity, but for loudness the critical duration is nearly constant at about 150 msec. Loudness and brightness also grow as power functions of intensity. The loudness exponent is the same for all durations, but the brightness exponent is about half again as large for short durations as for long. The psychophysical power functions were used to generate equal-loudness and equal-brightness functions, which specify the combinations of intensity E and duration T that produce the same apparent magnitude. Below the critical duration ET equals k for equal brightness, and ET^a equals k for equal loudness. The value a is about 0.7 for threshold and about 1.25 for supraliminal loudness.     

Vibrotactile difference thresholds for intensity and the effect of a masking stimulus

Vibrotactile difference thresholds for intensity were measured at several intensity levels of a test stimulus in the absence of a masking vibration and in the presence of three different amplitudes of a masking vibration. The test stimulus was a 160-Hz vibration delivered to the right index finger. The masking stimulus was a 160-Hz vibration delivered to the right little finger. For the same amplitudes of the test stimulus, △I varied as a direct function of the amplitude of the masking vibration. The smallest △Is resulted from measurements made in the absence of the masking stimulus. The Weber fraction, △I/I, was constant only for the more intense test stimuli in the absence of any masking stimuli. Independent of the presence or level of the masker, the Weber fraction for all stimuli approached approximately the same value, .25, when the test stimuli were raised to 20-dB sensation level. A model is proposed to account for the increase in the Weber fraction as a function of masker intensity and to predict masked thresholds.     

Two models for psychophysical judgment: Scale invariance with changes in stimulus range

Two scaling models are investigated, each of which includes parameters which reflect variation in the use of judgmental categories. In one model, response categories are represented as successive intervals on an underlying sensory continuum. In the other, they are represented as points. Psychophysical scales based upon either of these models are invariant up to a linear transformation when the range of stimulus magnitudes is manipulated. Successive intervals scale values obtained from magnitude estimates are also linearly invariant with changes in stimulus range. Similarities in the proximity functions for the two judgment models are examined.     

Creativity and Intelligence Revisited: A Latent Variable Analysis of Wallach and Kogan (1965)

Many decades of research have shown that creativity and intelligence are modestly related. Some studies, however, have found that creativity and intelligence are essentially unrelated. The best example may be Wallach and Kogan's (1965 Wallach , M. A. , & Kogan , N. ( 1965 ). Modes of thinking in young children: A study of the creativity–intelligence distinction . New York : Holt, Rinehart, & Winston . [Google Scholar]) landmark study of 151 children. In that study, 10 measures of creativity didn't correlate with 10 measures of intelligence and academic achievement (average r = .09). The present research reanalyzed these data using latent variable analysis, which can (a) assess the relations between latent creativity and intelligence variables and (b) model method variance shared by the creativity tasks. Consistent with past research, the latent originality and fluency variables significantly predicted intelligence. The relations' magnitude (around r = .20) was consistent with past research, suggesting that Wallach and Kogan's data replicate other studies of creativity and intelligence.     

Physicochemical characteristics and supraliminal odor intensity: Reply to Mitchell

The rate of growth (exponent) of the psychophysical function for odor intensity depends upon the physicochemical properties of odorous substances. Although no single property is able to predict rate of growth, a model developed by Dravnieks and Laffort that combines three basic properties has been quite successful. The results of intra-O comparisons of the relative exponents for various odorants have withstood the test of replication, i.e., variation among Os has usually not been a serious problem. In the future, comparisons of the exponents obtained from one laboratory to another would be aided considerably by inclusion of a standard odorant in all scaling studies.     

Beyond internal consistency reliability: Rationale and user’s guide for Multitrait Analysis Program on the microcomputer

A methodology for evaluating Likert-type scales is presented. Multitrait scaling is a straightforward approach to scale analysis that focuses on items as the unit of analysis and utilizes the logic of convergent and discriminant validity. Multitrait scaling is illustrated with the Multitrait Analysis Program, using patient satisfaction data from the Medical Outcomes Study.     

On neurotransmitter mechanisms of reinforcement and internal inhibition

Experiments reported in this study have been performed in order to investigate cholinergic and GABA-ergic neurotransmitter systems and substance P in the realization of internal inhibition and pain reinforcement. This was accomplished during the elaboration of inhibitory and defensive conditioned reflexes to light flashes in alert, nonimmobilized rabbits. Present results together with a review of past research indicate that the cholinergic system is directly involved in transmitting the effects of pain reinforcement to neocortical neurons. Substance P, a neuropeptide, reduces the background activity of neocortical and hippocampol neurons and the response of cortical neurons to pain and positive conditioned stimuli. The cholinergic system and substance P exert a modulating effect on the elaboration of internal inhibition. Phenybut, a GABA derivative capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier, enhances inhibitory hyperpolarization in the cerebral cortex and improves discrimination between the inhibitory and reinforcing light flashes. It appears, therefore, that the GABA-ergic system plays a leading part in the elaboration of internal inhibition. Neuronal activity and slow potential changes in response to positive conditioned and pain stimuli occur in the same direction after administering the preparations, and the dynamics of these changes is different from that in responses to inhibitory stimuli. It may be supposed on these grounds that the neurotransmitter and neuromodulator systems studied possess a considerable degree of plasticity.     

Spectral sensitivity of the Sooty mangabey

Purkinje shift and scotopic and photopic spectral sensitivity functions were determined for four Sooty mangabeys and five human controls using a flicker technique in a four-choice discrete trials task. Results-indicate a Purkinje shift similar in magnitude and frequency locus to that of human controls. Scotopic spectral sensitivity was almost identical to that of human controls, although both species showed reduced sensitivity relative to the standard CIE function, -at short wavelengths. Photopic spectral sensitivity disclosed enhanced sensitivity in the blue and reduced sensitivity (0.3–0.4 log units) in the red relative to human controls.     

Teacher Development: Contributions of Educational Biography and Personality

The contribution of autobiographical narratives for the teacher’s personal and professional development is currently considered an important issue. “Our stories”, “the stories that we tell about our lives” constitute a fundamental path of human meaning making (Bruner in Acts of meaning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990) and also, an identity construction process. “Fashioned out of memories, our stories become our identities” (Faust Harvard Magazine, 2003). Autobiographical narratives are then a development process, being its use in the educational scope pertinent, as it is considered that learning always features autobiography. Aiming at understanding the processes of personal and professional development, this study analyses student teachers autobiographical narratives, in particular, the relationship between primary school memories, personality characteristics, and teaching perspectives. This study was carried out with a sample of 129 student teachers of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Coimbra, with ages between 22 and 28 years. The instruments administered were the School Autobiography Sheet (an adaptation of the autobiographical method considered by McAdams; McAdams in Guided autobiography, 1997), and the Personality Inventory NEO-PI-R (Costa and McCrae in Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual, Psychological Assessment Resources Odessa, FL, 1992; Portuguese version Lima in Contextos teóricos e psicométricos: “Ocean” ou “Iceberg”?, Dissertação de Doutoramento, Universidade de, Coimbra, 1997) and the Teaching Perspectives Inventory of Pratt and Collins Teaching perspectives inventory, 2001. The results of the study show that the relationship between the autobiographical memories and the perspectives of teaching are fable. However, they point to the crucial role played by personality traits in the organization of the autobiographical memories and of the perspectives of teaching. These results contribute to the understanding of the processes of personal and educational development of future teachers and to the reflection on forms of using autobiographical narratives in a training frame.     

Left-Right Differences on Timed Motor Examination in Children

Age-related change in the difference between left- and right-side speed on motor examination may be an important indicator of maturation. Cortical maturation and myelination of the corpus callosum are considered to be related to increased bilateral skill and speed on timed motor tasks. We compared left minus right foot, hand, and finger speed differences using the Revised Physical and Neurological Assessment for Subtle Signs (PANESS; Denckla, 1985 Denckla, M. B. 1985. Revised neurological examination for subtle signs. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 21: 773–779. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]); examining 130 typically developing right-handed children (65 boys, 65 girls) ages 7–14. Timed tasks included right and left sets of 20 toe taps, 10 toe-heel alternation sequences, 20 hand pats, 10 hand pronate-supinate sets, 20 finger taps, and 5 sequences of each finger-to-thumb apposition. For each individual, six difference scores between left- and right-sided speeded performances of timed motor tasks were analyzed. Left-right differences decreased significantly with age on toe tapping, heel-toe alternations, hand pronation-supination, finger repetition, and finger sequencing. There were significant gender effects for heel-toe sequences (boys showing a greater left-right difference than girls), and a significant interaction between age and gender for hand pronation-supination, such that the magnitude of the left-right difference was similar for younger, compared with older girls, while the difference was significantly larger for younger, compared to older boys. Speed of performing right and left timed motor tasks equalizes with development; for some tasks, the equalization occurs earlier in girls than in boys.