An extension of item analysis procedures to the case of polychotomous response

Classical item analysis procedures were developed for dichotomously scored items and do not apply to items allowing multiple correct responses. Maximum likelihood procedures analogous to those employed in polychotomous bio-assay are presented which yield estimates of the sets of parameters for items having multiple nonordered responses. Expressions for the estimates of the asymptotic variances of the item parameters and on overall chi-square goodness of fit test are also provided.     

Homogeneous case of the continuous response model

In line with the latent trait model, the continuous response level is defined and considered, in contrast to the discrete response levels, which have already been explored by the author. Discussions are mainly focused on the homogeneous case and the open response situation. The operating density characteristic of the continuous item score is defined. Also the basic function, information functions and the positive-exponent family are discussed on the continuous response level, in connection with the sufficient condition that a unique maximum estimate is provided for the response pattern, which consists of the continuous item scores.     

Male and female psychoneuroendocrine response to examination stress: A case report

Urinary catecholamine levels were investigated in one female and one male Ph.D. candidate during public defense of their Ph.D. theses as well as during 2 weeks preceding and 1 week following these examinations. Although females, in comparison to males, usually tend to show a weak adrenaline response to mental stress, a threefold increase was observed in both subjects. The results support the assumption that sex differences in adrenal-medullary responsiveness to stress is not determined by sex-specific biological factors alone and that a “male” responsiveness may be observed in achievement-oriented females exposed to a challenging real-life situation. Effects on urinary measures of cortisol obtained from the male subject resembled effects on adrenaline, showing that this kind of real-life stressor affects the sympathetic-adrenal medullary and the pituitary-adrenocortical systems similarly.     

Meditation and the startle response: a case study

The effects of two kinds of meditation (open presence and focused) on the facial and physiological aspects of the defensive response to an aversive startle stimulus were studied in a Buddhist monk with approximately 40 years of meditation experience. The participant was exposed to a 115-db, 100-ms acoustic startle stimulus under the 2 meditation conditions, a distraction condition (to control for cognitive and attentional load) and an unanticipated condition (startle presented without warning or instruction). A completely counterbalanced 24-trial, single-subject design was used, with each condition repeated 6 times. Most aspects of the participant's responses in the unanticipated condition did not differ from those of a comparison group of 12 age-matched male controls. Both kinds of meditation produced physiological and facial responses to the startle that were smaller than in the distraction condition. Within meditation conditions, open presence meditation produced smaller physiological and facial responses than focused meditation. These results from a single highly expert meditator indicate that these 2 kinds of meditation can differentially alter the magnitude of a primitive defensive response.     

Acceleration model in the heterogeneous case of the general graded response model

A new model, called acceleration model, is proposed in the framework of the heterogenous case of the graded response model, based on processing functions defined for a finite or enumerable number of steps. The model is expected to be useful in cognitive assessment, as well as in more traditional areas of application of latent trait models. Criteria for evaluating models are proposed, and soundness and robustness of the acceleration model are discussed. Graded response models based on individual choice behavior are also discussed, and criticisms on model selection in terms of fitnesses of models to the data are also given.This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research (N00014-90-J-1456).     

The problematic case of gender-neutral pronouns: A response to "A Modest Proposal"

ABSTRACT

A response to Moser and Devereux (2017 Moser, C. A., & Devereux, M. T. (2016). A modest proposal. International Journal of Transgenderism, Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/15532739.2016.1217446</bib[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), “A Modest Proposal.”     

Social support,negative social exchange,and response to case formulation-based cognitive behavior therapy

We investigated associations between pretreatment social support, negative social exchange, and slope of weekly symptom change for depression, anxiety, and stress over the course of ideographic, case formulation-based, cognitive behavior therapy. Participants were 74 adults treated in a private practice setting. We used self-report measures to assess social support and negative social exchange at intake and to assess symptoms on a weekly basis. At pretreatment, a higher level of social support was associated with lower levels of depression, and a higher level of negative social exchanges was associated with higher levels of depression and stress. Pretreatment social support was not significantly associated with slope of symptom change. However, a higher level of pretreatment negative social exchanges was associated with steeper slope of change in symptoms of depression and stress during treatment. These findings suggest that the association between pretreatment negative social exchanges and subsequent symptoms may be stronger than that of social support and subsequent symptoms. Additionally, we discuss the possibility that having data on negative social exchanges at the start of treatment may benefit the outcome of ideographic, case formulation-based, cognitive behavior therapy.     

Clinical syndromes are not God''s gift to cognitive neuropsychology: A reply to a rebuttal to an answer to a response to the case against syndrome-based research

In this paper we consider several issues about single-patient versus syndrome-based research in response to E. Zurif, D. Swinney, and J. A. Fodor's (1991, Brain and Cognition, 16, 198-210) criticism of A. Caramazza and W. Badecker (1989, Brain and Cognition, 10, 256-295). We argue that these authors have failed to provide convincing arguments in favor of syndrome-based research. In particular, we show that the specific example--a study by D. Swinney, E. Zurif, and J. Nicol (1989, Journal of Cognitive Neurosciences, 1, 25-37)--given by these authors as a demonstration of the usefulness of syndrome-based research to inform theories of normal language processing does not in fact serve this purpose.     

Incompatability between the pigeons' unconditioned response to shock and the conditioned key-peck response

High-speed photography was used to compare the pigeon's response to unsignalled shock with the pigeon's key-peck response. During shock, pigeons flex their neck (i.e., the distance between their eyes and shoulders decreases). Following shock, the neck is extended. During key pecking, the neck remains extended and the head moves toward the key in a slight arc as though attached to a fixed fulcrum. Response topography during pecking and shock appear to be incompatible, and it is concluded that the difficulty in key-peck training pigeons to escape electric shock is due to interference from the unconditioned flexion response. This conclusion supports the species-specific defense theory of escape and avoidance behavior.