Attentional strategies for studying scientific texts

Content-area novices develop rules as to what types of information (e.g., definitions, facts, equations) are important in texts (Dee-Lucas & Larkin, 1988). The study reported here indicates that these rules influence text learning. Experts and novices read and recalled science texts. Reading times and recall for different types of content were compared for the two groups. Results indicate that novices’ importance rules function as part of novices’ control schema during reading, influencing their attentional processes and the resulting representation formed for the text. This was evident in qualitative differences between experts and novices in their attentional patterns and text recall. The study also found that the number of passage readings and the passage topic have a greater influence on the reading times of exports, but both groups adjust processing time according to the hierarchical level of the passage content. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for novices learning from texts.     

The effect of exploratory questions on solution quality

This experiment investigates whether the introduction of exploratory questions into a group problem-solving discussion influences the nature of the solution. Groups of three, including a discussion leader-member, were asked to develop at least three solutions toward improving output of a circular five-man assembly line. Many solutions are possible. One solution, rotation, is clearly superior to all others, yet is rarely developed. Leaders were given one of two different statements of the problem, a statement of two ways to improve a boring job, and three exploratory questions to read aloud to their groups prior to a 20-minute discussion. The job improvement questions were based on principles drived in Karsten's (1928) investigations into psychological satiation. Results indicate that exploratory questions cause groups to develop the insightful solution significantly more often than do comparable groups without experimental introduction of such questions. More generally, the results indicate that efforts directed toward upgrading the manner in which a task is experienced can generate inventive improvements in the group product.The author, a University of Michigan Ph.D. in psychology, taught in the psychology departments of North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland, as a visiting professor, at the University of Michigan; subsequently in the Schools of Management at the Universities of Rochester and Minnesota; extensively abroad, most recently in Japan. From graduate studies on he consulted on a long-term basis with several major corporations, including, among others 3M, IBM, and the Donaldson Company; the U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, Interior, Commerce; the Federal Aviation Administration and state and municipal governments and the government of Canada. He has published extensively in professional journals and recently had in press a third edition of an earlier book.     

The repetition effect in time judgments is not a function of the intensity of the stimulus defining the interval: implications for an arousal theory

College students (N = 17 per group) estimated the durations of time intervals ranging from 8 to 20 sec. Intervals were defined by tones of 35, 55, and 75 db for each of three groups. The estimates of all groups declined across trials, but the degree of decline did not differ as a function of stimulus intensity. These data call into question the view that the repetition effect is attributable to a decrement in general arousal.     

Effect of information feedback on temporal discrimination in concurrent and post-feedback measures

College students estimated time intervals (5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 sec.) where one group (N = 20) received information feedback in terms of actual interval durations and a second group (N = 18) received no information. Theshold measures were then taken for all subjects using the method of constant stimuli (comparison stimuli of 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 sec. and a 7-sec. standard). In addition to increased accuracy and consistency of judgments, the feedback group showed a decreasing Weber fraction during the estimation phase, while the Weber fraction for the no-feedback group increased. The feedback group retained only a slight advantage in subsequent threshold measures; group differences in difference thresholds and derived nonparametric estimates of d' were nonsignificant.     

Some correlates of stuttering severity judgments

Thirteen adult male stutterers recorded the Amplifier Passage on high-quality audiotape. One sentence from each recording was paired with one sentence from each of the remaining 12 recordings. The resulting 78 sentence pairs were presented to eight speech-language pathologists who were asked to judge which stutterer in each pair was more severe and to rate the confidence of each of these judgements. The confidence ratings were analyzed by means of the individual differences model of multidimensional scaling. The results suggested that reading rate and the number of intrasentence pauses were important parameters in determining the severity of stuttering.     

Children's comprehension of relative clauses

A review of the literature on children's use of relative clause constructions reveals many contradictory findings. The suggestion is that some studies fail to take into account the two factors of embeddedness (role of complex noun phrase within the sentence) and focus (role of head noun in the relative clause). The experiment reported here attempted to reconcile the disparate findings and extend the range of constructions examined. 114 children between the ages of 3 and 7 served as subjects in a test of comprehension using an act-out procedure of 9 different relative clause sentences that exhaust the possible combination of 3 roles of the complex noun phrase in the sentence and 3 roles that the head noun plays within the relative clause (in each case, subject, driect object, and indirect object). All constructions were understood better with increasing age of the children sex and sentence set were nonsignificant variables. The results reveal a difficulty in ordering of the 9 types of construction that is in keeping with a prediction based on surface structure processing strategies.This research was supported by grant No. BNS73-09150 from the National Science Foundation to Professor Roger Brown.     

Gender and sex-role appropriateness: Bias in the judgment of disturbed behavior

Male and female undergraduate raters made attributions of mental disorder, personality traits, and diagnostic and treatment judgments for four case studies in which sex of client and sex-role appropriateness of client behavior were manipulated. Significant interactions of sex-role appropriateness with both client sex and rater sex highlighted the significance of sex-role stereotypes in the attribution of mental disorder by nonprofessionals. The data indicated that these cultural sex-role definitions had the strongest negative effect for females and the female sex role. Implications of these findings for the clinical judgment process and female self-perception are discussed.The order of authorship was determined by random selection.     

Sex differences in comments made during conflict within close heterosexual pairs

Questionnaires were used to investigate (1) stereotypes about what young couples do and say during their conflicts and (2) reports (by actual young couples) of what each one is likely to do or say. The two sets of data yielded much the same pattern of results. The female is expected and reported to cry and sulk and to criticize the male for lack of consideration of her feelings and for insensitivity to his effect on her. The male is expected and reported to show anger, to reject the female's tears, to call for a logical and less emotional approach to the problem, and to give reasons for delaying the discussion. The Study I expectations for sex differences during conflict are held to about the same degree by the female and male respondents. In both studies, the differences were found to depend primarily on sex of the person and not on the particular problem involved in the conflict. The results are interpreted in terms of the interaction between a conflict-avoidant person (the male) and his partner (the female), who is frustrated by the avoidance and asks that the problem and the feelings associated with it be confronted.     

Modality-specific interference with verbal and nonverbal stimulus information

Subjects recalled both letters and the locations of letters in 2 by 3 and 1 by 6 matrices after either no interfering activity or visual, auditory, or kinesthetic interfering activity. Results for each type of matrix indicated the presence of selective auditory (verbal) interference with the recall of letter identity and selective visual and kinesthetic interference with the recall of letter location. Supplementary correlational analyses indicated that the presence of such a dual encoding strategy was most consistent across subjects for the 2 by 3 matrix. Although the results indicated that use of different modes of representation was related to the verbal-nonverbal nature of the information, it was shown that the structure of the stimulus array also affected the nature of the representation.