A critical analysis of the attention hypothesis of Zeaman and House: problems of parameter interactions in multiparameter models

The attention hypothesis of Zeaman and House [in N. R. Ellis (Ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963] was examined through a systematic, computer-simulation analysis of the parameter interactions found in the One-Look model. The hypothesis states that mental retardates and normals differ in their initial attention habits but not in their learning rates in the context of discrimination learning. The analysis showed that possible differences in the learning rates cannot be ruled out. The result was used to suggest how shift designs can unconfound the effect of the attention habits from the effect of the learning rates and maximize chances of observing possible differences in the learning rates between retarded and normal children.     

Hemispheric dominance in schizophrenics as determined on extrapyramidal side effects of neuroleptics

Phenomena observed during treatment with neuroleptics were clinically measured in an attempt to determine the difference in vulnerability of the two hemispheres and the relation between this difference and schizophrenic diseases. In the group of systematic schizophrenias the increase in tonus was significantly higher in the dominant hemisphere. This finding is considered a verification of the nosological hypothesis of schizophrenias.     

INFORMATION PROCESSING MODELS OF PEER NOMINATIONS1

This paper describes the development of an information processing theory of the judgmental process in which individuals engage while rating their peers. Using protocol tracing methods, decision process models were constructed of how individuals rate their peers on seven widely used sociometric questions. The protocols revealed that individuals evaluate their peers along five primary behavior categories: (1) Mutual Influencing, (2) Categorizing/Summarizing, (3) Social-Directive, (4) Quantity of Verbal Communication, and (5) Listening. Models for each sociometric question were tested by comparing model predictions with actual group peer ratings. Using linear models only, high Spearman rank correlations (r₈ range to 1.00) were obtained between predicted and actual peer rankings. Findings have implications for research in person perception and the attribution of leadership.     

Extraversion and the orienting reaction habituation rate to visual stimuli

Eysenck's (1967) proposal that introversion is characterized by increased levels of activity in the cortico-reticular loop was treated in a series of experiments which compared high, middle, and low extraversion groups on the basis of OR habituation rate to visual stimulation. Generally, introverts were observed to have longer OR habituation rates to chromatic and word stimulation than extraverts as evidenced by cardiac, electrodermal, and vasomotor indices of habituation rate, a result which endorses Eysenck's hypothesis. Results are also discussed from the standpoint of individual differences in autonomic response.     

Memory for item order and phonetic recoding in the beginning reader

A defect in immediate memory for item order is often attributed to poor beginning readers. We have supposed that this problem may be a manifestation of an underlying deficiency in the use of phonetic codes. Accordingly, we expected good and poor readers to differ in their ability to order stimuli that can be easily recoded as words and stored in phonetic form, but not in their ability to order nonlinguistic stimuli that do not lend themselves to phonetic recoding in short-term memory. The purpose of the present study was to test this hypothesis by examining the ability of good and poor readers to reconstruct the order of sets of briefly presented stimuli that varied in the extent to which they could be distinctively recoded into phonetic form: pictures of common objects versus nonrepresentational, “doodle” drawings. As expected, an interaction between reading ability and type of stimulus item was found, demonstrating the material-specific nature of poor readers' ordering difficulties. These findings support the hypothesis that a function of the phonetic representation is to aid in retention of order information, and that poor readers' ordering difficulties are related to their deficient use of phonetic codes.     

Asymmetries for the categorization of kanji nouns, adjectives, and verbs presented to the left and right

Kanji is one form of written Japanese in which the symbolic/analytic characteristics of language are dissociated from systematic phonetic characteristics; as such, it makes possible a more careful test of which aspect of language is responsible for the frequently observed superior left-hemisphere performance. In this study, subjects were asked to categorize tachistoscopically presented kanji as nouns, adjectives, or verbs. The previously reported (Hatta 1977, Neuropsychologia, 15, 685–688) left-visual-field advantage for kanji was found only in the case of nouns. Adjectives and verbs were processed more rapidly and correctly in the right visual field.     

Depression, nondepression, and cognitive illusions: reply to Schwartz

In his comment, Schwartz argued that the Alloy and Abramson findings call into question the hypothesized causal link between learned helplessness and depression. Schwartz's contention is based on his interpretation of the Alloy and Abramson findings as showing that nondepressives cannot detect noncontingency. Although we argue that Schwartz has misinterpreted our data, we agree with his general contention that nondepressives may be relatively invulnerable to depression. We discuss the implications of our data for the learned helplessness theory as well as for other cognitive theories of depression. In addition, we evaluate Schwartz's intriguing motivational account of depressive accuracy in judging response-outcome contingencies. Finally, in response to Schwartz's question of whether nondepressives' errors in judging contingency are really errors at all, we suggest it is important to distinguish among error, irrationality, and maladaptiveness when discussing cognitive bias.     

Personal tempo, personality, cognitive speed and cognitive performance

One hundred young males filled in an untimed personality questionnaire. The time needed was taken to be the subjects' personal tempo. They also worked twice on a timed substitution test; their score on this test was taken to be their cognitive speed. It was hypothesized that personal tempo was related to personality and cognitive speed to performance on cognitive tests. The results confirmed the hypothesis. Those whose personal tempo was faster had higher Extraversion and lower Neuroticism and Lie-scores. Those whose cognitive speed was faster, however, did better on four out of five cognitive tests and had a higher Lie-score. It seems that the two speed factors, as hypothesized by Spearman, are indeed two separate and distinct factors, each correlated with different variables: cognitive and personality.     

GENERALIZING ARTICULATION TRAINING WITH TRAINABLE MENTALLY RETARDED SUBJECTS1

A multiple-baseline technique was used to evaluate generalization effects during articulation training with trainable mentally retarded subjects. Four target words were selected for each subject on the basis of whether the subject could articulate the word correctly when it was modelled but could not articulate the word correctly in response to a picture of it. Five different settings were selected for generalization probing and training for each subject. In Setting 1, Experimenter 1 initiated training sequentially on all four target words for each subject. Other experimenters probed for correct articulation generalization in four other settings. Training was initiated in these four other settings sequentially only if correct responding failed to generalize to a setting. Results indicated that it was necessary to initiate training on at least three of the four selected target words in at least one additional setting with an additional trainer before correct responding generalized to untrained settings.