Age differences in peripheral perceptual processing: a monoptic backward masking investigation

Peripheral processes in vision were investigated in two experiments involving monoptic backward masking with random noise. For young and old subjects, peripheral processing time (represented by stimulus onset asynchrony of target and mask) was characterized as a power function of target energy. Although processing time for both age groups showed a similar rate of decline with increasing target energy, old subjects processed targets more slowly at all energy levels. Results were independent of education, sex, and criterion differences between young and old. Target duration was related to critical interstimulus interval, such that stimulus onset asynchrony between target and mask was approximately constant for a given target energy within each age group. Evidence suggests that peripheral processing begins with target onset and that processing time is best characterized by a power function relating stimulus onset asynchrony of target and mask to target energy.     

Visual field differences in verbal tasks: Effects of task familiarity and sex of subject

Four experiments using normal subjects investigated differences in magnitude of the right visual field (RVF) superiority as a function of word material (frequency and concreteness/imageability status), nonword letter strings (some of which were homophonic with nonpresented real words), and type of task (overt naming or lexical decision with discriminatory manual responses) as well as sex of the subject and the subject's familiarity with the material. Both latency and error measures showed that RVF superiority was more consistent when overt naming was required and with male subjects. For female subjects engaged in lexical decisions, a left visual field (LVF) superiority was often apparent, especially in the first half of an experimental sequence; when actually naming the items aloud, they showed field asymmetries similar to males. Except from an analysis of errors, there was little evidence to support differential right hemisphere mediation of high frequency concrete/imageable materials. It is suggested that in females, right hemisphere space normally reserved for visuospatial processing may have been invaded by secondary speech mechanisms. These mechanisms appear to operate at an essentially lexical level and may act in a supportive or auxiliary capacity for difficult or unfamiliar material; they seem to be equally concerned with both phonological and graphological processing and may account for the well-known female superiority in verbal tasks and inferiority in visuospatial tasks. Other findings are discussed such as the degree of consistency of the field differences, both for the same subjects and for the same stimulus materials under different task requirements and experimental conditions.     

A self-contained microcomputer system for psychological testing

This paper describes a newly available microcomputer system for the on-line administration, scoring, and interpretation of psychological tests. User response to the system is reported. Results of a validity study of the system’s Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory interpretative program are presented.     

Organizational preparedness for change: Staff acceptance of an on-line computer-assisted assessment system

An on-line assessment system is briefly described. Previous positive evaluation studies are summarized. Results of studies of staff acceptance and staff preparedness for change are reported. Findings are interpreted in terms of the need for planning for change. Implications related to the acceptance of other on-line computer systems in psychology are discussed.     

A feature-integration theory of attention

A new hypothesis about the role of focused attention is proposed. The feature-integration theory of attention suggests that attention must be directed serially to each stimulus in a display whenever conjunctions of more than one separable feature are needed to characterize or distinguish the possible objects presented. A number of predictions were tested in a variety of paradigms including visual search, texture segregation, identification and localization, and using both separable dimensions (shape and color) and local elements or parts of figures (lines, curves, etc. in letters) as the features to be integrated into complex wholes. The results were in general consistent with the hypothesis. They offer a new set of criteria for distinguishing separable from integral features and a new rationale for predicting which tasks will show attention limits and which will not.     

A further analysis of the affective meanings associated with male and female sex-trait stereotypes

This study was concerned with the qualitative differences in the male and female sex-trait stereotypes. Previous research employing the item pool of the Adjective Check List (ACL) had indicated no relationship between the stereotype loading of the adjectives and their favorability ratings. In the present study, university students rated the ACL items for strength and activity, and these ratings were used to demonstrate that the male stereotype was appreciably stronger and more active than the female stereotype. It was found that the strength ratings were highly correlated with both activity and favorability ratings which were, themselves, unrelated. It was concluded that the principal qualitative difference between the stereotypes lay in the connotations of activity and passivity associated, respectively, with the male and female stereotype traits, and that any assertion of greater social desirability for the male stereotype was based on its greater activity and not, as is often supposed, on its greater favorability.     

Interviewee perceptions of an organisational careers guidance scheme

A study was carried out during the early stages of the introduction of a career development scheme in a large government department. Information relating to aspects of various careers counselling issues was gathered from staff who had received such counselling and from personnel staff responsible for its provision. The study shows, amongst other things, that the interviewers were perceived to use some counselling skills, that the interviewers claimed they experienced few problems of role conflict, but that the staff tended to identify the interviewers with management. The findings are discussed relation to the appropriateness of interviewing style and to the broader context of how individuals might influence their career development within the opportunities provided by the organisation.     

On knowing the meaning of words we are unable to report confirmation of a guessing explanation

This experiment investigated Allport's (1977) claim that normal subjects can be induced to make semantic errors of the type characterised by “deep dyslexia”. The procedure followed that used by Allport except that a subject based control for the chance level of semantic errors was included. The results replicated the original finding by producing a semantic error rate of 12·7%. It was shown, however, that this rate was not significantly higher than the calculated chance rate of 11·5%. It was concluded, therefore, that the semantic error rates reported by Allport can be accounted for in terms of a guessing artefact and thus they bear no relevance to the problem of deep dyslexia.     

Dynamic visual noise and the stereophenomenon: Interocular time delays,depth, and coherent velocities

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - This study concerns the stereophenomenon obtained with binocular viewing of dynamic visual noise with a neutral density filter over one eye. Such a...