Orthographically Influenced Abstract Phonological Representation: Evidence from Non-rhotic Speakers

It is typically assumed that when orthography is translated silently into phonology (i.e., when reading silently), the phonological representation is equivalent to the spoken form or, at least, the surface phonemic form. The research presented here demonstrates that the phonological representation is likely to be more abstract than this, and is orthographically influenced. For example, the claim is made that the word corn has an underlying /r/ in its phonological representation, even in non-rhotic dialects. The evidence comes from difficulties observed in judgements about the homophony with a target word of a pseudohomophone whose phonology does not match the putative abstract representation of that word. For example, it is hard to say that the pseudohomophone cawn is homophonic with corn. The conclusion that orthography can shape phonological representation is antithetical to both computational models of the conversion of print to sound and linguistic accounts of phonology.The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant awarded to the author by the Australian Research Council.     

Fitting prepositional gratitude to god is metaphysically impossible

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion - It is argued that God cannot be a fitting target of prepositional gratitude. The first premise is that if someone cannot be benefited, then they...     

Sex differences in judgments of physical attractiveness: a social relations analysis

Men and women rated the physical attractiveness of other men and women who were sitting nearby and were rated by them in return. They also provided meta-perceptions of how they thought those others rated them. Attractiveness ratings were partly a function of both the target being rated and the perceiver providing the ratings regardless of the sex of the perceiver or target, but the highest levels of consensus occurred when men judged the attractiveness of women and the highest levels of idiosyncrasy occurred when men rated other men. Meta-perceptions were also idiosyncratic; some believed that they were consistently considered attractive, whereas others thought they were seen as unattractive. People were aware of what others thought of them and, in particular, women's meta-perceptions were highly related to men's judgments of them. People agree about others' attractiveness, and those who are attractive to others know they are pretty or handsome.     

Depressive symptoms during pregnancy: impact on neuroendocrine and neonatal outcomes

Objective

To explore the interplay of maternal depressive symptoms on the infant limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis (LHPA) and neurological development.

Design

Pregnant women were monitored for depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) at 28, 32, and 37 weeks of gestation and at delivery. A mixture growth curve analysis divided the women into three risk groups: low/stable, intermediate, and high/increasing depression based on BDI scores. The infant neuroendocrine system was examined using cord blood for adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol measurements. Two-week-old infants were examined using Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS).

Results

Infants born to women of the high/increasing depression group had significant ACTH elevation at birth. On NNNS examination, these infants were more hypotonic and habituated to auditory and visual stimuli.

Conclusion

When compared to non-depressed women, maternal depressive symptoms, even in the absence of major depressive disorder, appeared to facilitate a different developmental pathway for the infant LHPA and early neurological development.     

Own-other differences in the realism of some metacognitive judgments

The present study investigated differences in judgments of one's own and others' knowledge (the own-other difference). Consistent with the below-average effect (e.g., Kruger, 1999), our main results showed that the participants gave lower knowledge ratings of their own extent of knowledge than of another person's extent of knowledge (Experiment 1). Furthermore, lower and more realistic judgments were found when the participants judged their own as compared with when judging another person's overall accuracy (frequency judgments) of answering knowledge questions correctly (Experiment 1 and 2). On the basis of these results it is argued that judgmental anchoring may be important also in the context of indirect comparisons, and that previous conclusions of cross-cultural psychology regarding the above-average effect may be oversimplified.     

Odor recognition and identification: effect of labels over time

The effect of labels on recognition and identification of odors over time was assessed. 30 men and 30 women were presented 20 odors; half of the participants were also told a name for the odor as a label. Five min. and 60 min. later, all participants were given 20 odors (10 from the original set, 10 new) and asked whether each odor was new or old (odor recognition). The group given labels was also asked to recall the label provided (odor identification). Analysis indicated a significant effect of time on recognition. Significantly more odors were recognized at 5 min. than 60 min. The effect of label was also significant, with recognition being better for the Label condition than the No-Label condition. As for odor identification, women identified more labels than did men. Overall, odor recognition was better with labels soon after exposure, and the women were better at remembering the labels than the men.     

"Natural termination": some comments on ending analysis without setting a date

This paper is a re-examination of the rule of date setting in termination. It reviews the literature and presents an analytic case which was terminated in what the patient called a "natural" manner, i.e., without the setting of a date. Some ideas about the nature of the rules used in organizing analysis are discussed.     

Construct validity of the Kendrick Battery with institutionalized aged

In this study, we attempted to explore the construct validity of the Kendrick Battery by using an American sample and psychometric tests as indexes of diffuse organicity, depression, and normality. Institutionalized residents (N = 53) were tested twice (6-week interval). When organicity was defined by disorientation and memory deficits, then both the Object Learning test and the Digit Copying test were accurate in differentiating preestablished criterion groups. When organicity was defined more broadly, including sensorimotor function, the Digit Copying test alone was more accurate when depression was defined in terms of irritability, restlessness, and despair. These data suggest that although the Kendrick scales appeared to be sensitive to organicity and depression in this sample, their validity varied with the criteria for each when such were defined psychometrically.