Production of graphic symbol sentences by individuals with aphasia: efficacy of a computer-based augmentative and alternative communication intervention

The study employed a single-subject multiple baseline design to examine the ability of 9 individuals with severe Broca's aphasia or global aphasia to produce graphic symbol sentences of varying syntactical complexity using a software program that turns a computer into a speech output communication device. The sentences ranged in complexity from simple two-word phrases to those with morphological inflections, transformations, and relative clauses. Overall, results indicated that individuals with aphasia are able to access, manipulate, and combine graphic symbols to produce phrases and sentences of varying degrees of syntactical complexity. The findings are discussed in terms of the clinical and public policy implications.     

Spirituality and Drugs Education: A study in parent/child communication

Drugs education in the UK is in its infancy. Government strategies have highlighted parents as an important aspect of children's drugs education. This paper reports on research that has explored parents' and children's perception of drug issues as well as the experience of communication about drugs within the family. The research has drawn on a number of humanistic theoretical perspectives but rests principally upon George Kelly's Personal Construct Psychology. Data has been collected using focus group discussions with parents and children from 13-15 years old, and a key phase of this work is the use of the self-characterization to facilitate communication between parents and children about drugs and their related issues. The results of the study have highlighted the need for young people to establish a sense of self and to fulfil a meaningful life, which has been identified as being a spiritual need. This paper examines these findings from a range of literature on spirituality and explores spirituality from a Kellyan perspective and develops some clear implications for further lines of research in this area.     

A vector graphic CRT display system

A vector graphic CRT display system for research in visual information processing is described. The vector graphic processor includes a 4K-byte display memory. The processor communicates with the controlling computer via a serial channel. The system is capable of exposure durations below 1 msec, and it allows on-line generation and modification of display files during an experiment. Brightness can be controlled separately for each vector of a picture. A graphic display editor in FORTRAN IV for interactive editing and debugging of display files has been developed.     

Contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems to the copying of complex geometrical drawings: A developmental study

The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems [Van Sommers, P. (1989). A system for drawing and drawing-related neuropsychology. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 6, 117–164] to the manifestation of the “Centripetal Execution Principle” (CEP), a graphic rule for the copying of drawings consisting of embedded simple geometric shapes from the outside shape to the inside shape. Children aged 4–8 years copied two types of model that differed in the visual salience of one of the simple geometric shapes (drawn in bold or normal weight lines), producing the drawings either by graphic execution (freehand) or by superimposing the simple geometric shapes. The results indicated that the frequency of CEP depended both on the type of model and on the drawing context in the youngest children. They suggest that the CEP is determined by the structure of the representation of the models and the planning of the execution of the drawings. The developmental differences in the effects of visual salience and execution context are discussed in the light of the development of representational flexibility and planning abilities. These data are consistent with a dissociation between the visual perception and graphic production systems and account for their interaction.     

High-power graphic computers for visual simulation: A real-time-rendering revolution

Advances in high-end graphics computers in the past decade have made it possible to render visual scenes of incredible complexity and realism in real time. These new capabilities make it possible to manipulate and investigate the interactions of observers with their visual world in ways once only dreamed of. This paper reviews how these developments have affected two preexisting domains of behavioral research (flight simulation and motion perception) and have created a new domain (virtual environment research) which provides tools and challenges for the perceptual psychologist. Finally, the current limitations of these technologies are considered, with an eye toward how perceptual psychologists might shape future developments.     

A cross-cultural investigation of the graphic differential

A new Graphic Differential (GD) suggested by French (1977) may be used as a language-free alternative to the Semantic Differential (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957). The new GD (which is based on prior attempts by other writers) consists of 5 pictographic scales for each semantic dimension: Evaluation, Potency, and Activity. Since the GD employs pictograms instead of adjectives, it would be a suseful tool for cross-cultural research, given that the pictograms, although developed in the United States, are understood universally. In the present study, 46 American and 46 German subjects sorted the 15 graphic scales according to semantic similarity. Responses were summarized in similarity matrices, which were analyzed further by the methods of maximum spanning tree and hierarchical cluster analysis. American results show that the intended meaning of the scales could be understood. This strengthens the intracultural validity of the GD. In general, the German findings were similar. The German subjects, however, could not categorize all the scales as clearly as the Americans. The problematic scales could weaken the cross-cultural validity of the GD.This work was originally presented at the Fifth International Conference on Culture and Communication, Temple University, Philadelphia, March 26, 1983. I gratefully acknowledge the support of Dr. Christine Bachen and her teaching assistants from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who provided for collection of the American data.     

Interhemispheric communication involving multiple tasks: A study of children with dyslexia

The study investigated whether inefficient interhemispheric communication is involved in developmental dyslexia using multiple tasks. A finger localization task, rhyming judgment task, primed lexical decision task, and a visual half-field presentation paradigm were used. Nineteen dyslexic children (mean age = 13.1 years) were compared with 26 chronological age-matched normal children. Although the dyslexic group demonstrated significantly slower and less accurate performance in all three tasks, there was no significant group difference in term of interhemispheric communication. However, priming effects demonstrated by the dyslexic group (p < .05) further indicate that their reading problems may stem from the word retrieval process from the long term memory.     

A graphic measure for game-theoretic robustness

Robustness has long been recognized as an important parameter for evaluating game-theoretic results, but talk of ‘robustness’ generally remains vague. What we offer here is a graphic measure for a particular kind of robustness (‘matrix robustness’), using a three-dimensional display of the universe of 2 ×  2 game theory. In such a measure specific games appear as specific volumes (Prisoner’s Dilemma, Stag Hunt, etc.), allowing a graphic image of the extent of particular game-theoretic effects in terms of those games. The measure also allows for an easy comparison between different effects in terms of matrix robustness. Here we use the measure to compare the robustness of Tit for Tat’s well-known success in spatialized games (Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York: Basic Books; Grim, P. et al. (1998). The philosophical computer: Exploratory essays in philosophical computer modeling. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press) with the robustness of a recent game-theoretic model of the contact hypothesis regarding prejudice reduction (Grim et al. 2005. Public Affairs Quarterly, 19, 95–125).     

A high-resolution color graphic display four-channel software tachistoscope

A software tachistoscope for IBM-PC-compatible personal computers equipped with Tseng-ET4000-based VGA boards is described. It is shown how up to four bit-mapped color images with a resolution of up to 800 X600 pixels may be stored in video display memory and alternatingly be selected for screen display in synchrony with the vertical retrace signal of the video controller.     

Nonverbal measurement of affect: The graphic differential

The measurement of affective meaning (Osgood's three universal factors) is easily accomplished via the semantic differential. However, the verbal nature of this instrument prevents its use with many subject groups in which the measurement of affective meaning would be the most interesting: members of illiterate cultures, verbally damaged individuals such as anomic aphasics and thought-disordered schizophrenics, and children younger than 6 years. For these purposes, the present study describes the development of a nonverbal alternative to the semantic differential and assesses the statistical comparability of scores resulting from the use of the two instruments.This research was supported by Grant NSF GS 2012x to Professors Charles E. Osgood and William H. May.     

Women's Descriptions of Drinking in Bars: Reasons and Risks

Fifty-two women bar drinkers participated infocus group discussions about women's reasons fordrinking, victimization experiences, and behaviors thatinfluence risk for victimization, in bars. The majority of the participants were White (67.3%),one-third were Black (30.8%), and one was NativeAmerican. Qualitative data analytic techniques were usedto assess the content of these discussions. Womendescribed distinct reasons for going to bars and providednumerous accounts of aggression they had witnessed orexperienced associated with this setting. Depictions ofphysical violence ranged from having an object thrown at them or being pushed, to accounts ofrape and attempted murder. These women also describedobservable changes in other women's behavior followingalcohol consumption, and how these behaviors increase risk for victimization in bars. The qualitativefindings are discussed in terms of what they tell usabout women bar drinkers and the insight theyprovide fordesigning future studies and interventions that focus on education and prevention.     

Stutterers and others: A comparison of communication attitudes

The Erickson 39-item S-scale was administered to 24 persons who stutter, 24 persons with voice or articulation disorders, and 24 normal speakers. The purpose of the study was to determine if the three populations differed in communication attitude. The one-way analysis of variance showed that the three groups differed significantly. Normal speakers revealed the most desirable communication attitude; the communication attitude of the voice and articulation disorders population was less favorable than normals; the communication attitude of the stuttering population was least favorable.     

肥胖谈论:心理学视角下的沟通方式

肥胖谈论是一种关于身体外貌交流的社会现象,特别是指女性之间关于体型、体重和饮食习惯等自我贬损的谈话。通常认为女性通过肥胖谈论中的自我贬损,能够获得他人的安慰、支持以及印象管理等积极效果,但是研究表明肥胖谈论对身体意象、饮食失调、情绪等存在消极影响。未来的研究应该增加对肥胖谈论的纵向研究,进一步探究肥胖谈论的影响作用,扩展完善肥胖谈论的标准性操作。