Discrimination of size by sight and tough

The experiment was designed to discover whether accuracy of discrimination differs when the discrimination is made in only one sense from when it is made across two senses. The evidence produced by the experiment does not warrant one to conclude that such a difference exists. The absence of such differences has been considered in relation to more general perceptual problems.     

武宁回头山佑圣宫

回头山,原名张举头,发脉于太平山,坐落在江西武宁县横路乡新溪村白石匣;海拔800余米。是一处历史悠久的道教圣地,又是一座风景秀丽的胜境名山。回头山佑圣宫,起源于宋宁宗嘉定17年(公元1224年),宋理宗端平元年(1234年)兴建宫观,名为佑圣宫。延于清嘉庆二十五年,以山主汤汉山为首重新扩建为八字门楼,上下两殿,左右厢房,以及观音堂。附建有炼丹亭、惜字亭、邓九亭、钟鼓二楼和巡山殿。章真人多次来此山修炼,遂改名为回头山。其建筑面积约3200平方米。历经700多年,宫观几度举废。从1981年以来主体建筑佑圣宫修复一新,1994年,武宁县人民政府将该…     

The attitude toward mamzerim in Jewish society in late antiquity

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the attitude of the Jewish people to a marginal group in that society: mamzerim, from Biblical times to Late Antiquity. The social exclusion of mamzerim is already stated in Deutoronomy 23:3, though a reading of several later rabbinic and non-rabbinic sources suggests how this exclusion really took place. It is assumed that mamzerim were not accepted into the Qumram sect, just like handicapped persons, and they were not allowed to enter the Temple. According to rabbinic law a mamzer was excluded from society (as his parents' punishment), by the prohibition of marrying anyone of distinguished genealogy. However, there are sources that testify that prior to the crystallization of rabbinic law (in the second century c.e.) there were other ways of denying mamzerim access to society: they were prohibited from entering the Temple, they were not taught Torah, a mamzer's house and grave were painted white to point him out. According to a source in Toldot Yeshu, mamzerim were shaved bald so they were set apart from the community in many aspects of daily life. Analyzing the sources leads to an historical understanding of social exclusion as practiced in Jewish society in the past. It is argued that the `normative' rabbinic law testifies to a process of limiting the expulsion of mamzerim from society. It seems that this process reflects the new modes of life (especially after the destruction of the Temple), that the society had to face: a change in the family structure on the one hand, and relatively numerous mamzerim on the other hand. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of response practice variables on learning spelling and sight vocabulary

Four experiments were conducted to examine variables associated with response practice as an instructional technique for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In Experiment 1, the effect of the cover component in the "cover write" method was evaluated, as were the comparative effects of written versus oral practice of spelling words by rehabilitation clients. The results showed that the cover procedure generally did not enhance performance over and above that produced by practice alone, and written practice generally was not superior to oral practice. Experiment 2 demonstrated that less response practice (i.e., five times) was as effective as more practice (i.e., 10 and 15 times) for teaching spelling to adolescents with developmental disabilities. Experiments 3 and 4 also showed that even less response practice (i.e., one time) was as effective as more practice (five times), and irrelevant practice following errors was as effective as relevant practice for teaching spelling and sight vocabulary to adolescents with behavior disorders and developmental disabilities, respectively. The findings suggest that a parsimonious procedure of limited response practice and positive reinforcement may be effective for the tasks and populations studied.     

Veering re-visited: noise and posture cues in walking without sight

Effects of sound and posture cues on veering from the straight-ahead were tested with young blind children in an unfamiliar space that lacked orienting cues. In a pre-test with a previously heard target sound, all subjects walked straight to the target. A recording device, which sampled the locomotor trajectories automatically, showed that, without prior cues from target locations, subjects tended to veer more to the side from which they heard a brief, irrelevant noise. Carrying a load on one side produced more veering to the opposite side. The detailed samples showed that, underlying the main trajectories, were alternating concave and convex (left and right) movements, suggesting stepwise changes in body position. It is argued that the same external and body-centred cues that contribute to reference-frame orientation for locomotion when they converge and concur, influence the direction of veering when the cues occur in isolation in environments that lack converging reference information.     

Great apes' understanding of other individuals' line of sight

Previous research has shown that many social animals follow the gaze of other individuals. However, knowledge about how this skill differs between species and whether it shows a relationship with genetic distance from humans is still fragmentary. In the present study of gaze following in great apes, we manipulated the nature of a visual obstruction and the presence/absence of a target. We found that bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas followed gaze significantly more often when the obstruction had a window than when it did not, just as human infants do. Additionally, bonobos and chimpanzees looked at the experimenter's side of a windowless obstruction more often than the other species. Moreover, bonobos produced more double looks when the barrier was opaque than when it had a window, indicating an understanding of what other individuals see. The most distant human relatives studied, orangutans, showed few signs of understanding what another individual saw. Instead, they were attracted to the target's location by the target's presence, but not by the experimenter's gaze. Great apes' perspective-taking skills seem to have increased in the evolutionary lineage leading to bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans.     

The effect of sight levels on daily stressors and coping styles

The structures of daily stressful events of visually impaired people are reported, and the effects of the sight levels of the subjects on these structures are examined. Sixty‐nine visually impaired people (22 males, 47 females) were interviewed and divided into three groups according to their sight levels. Subjects provided examples of stressful events for three coping styles (Don’t, Do by others, Do by oneself). Statistical analyses of the data indicated that the sight levels of visually impaired people are related to the structure of stressful events and coping styles.