Structure in the classification of stimuli differing on several continuous attrjbutes’

Subjects were requested to sort sets of multidimensional stimuli differing in tint or shade, size, shape, and orientation. Each S received either 64 triangles selected at random from a larger population or 16 selected at random from the sample of 64. On one sort he was allowed to select the number ofcategories to be used; otherwise, he was required to distribute the stimuli among four, five, and six categories, respectively. The predominant strategy proved to be simple abstraction, with incomplete generalization a frequent alternative. On all but a few of the sorts, the sorting principle involved the use of one or a pair of attributes. In addition, Ss displayed a marked tendency toward numerical balance in their sorts and, when allowed to select the number of categories to be used, to limit them to a relatively small number. Imai has previously reported numerical balance and the use of a limited number of categories also to characterize the sorting of stimuli differing on discontinuous attributes. Informational measures proved helpful in describing such aspects of classification behavior as response uncertainty, numerical balance, and efficiency in abstraction.     

Use of nature in a multi-family therapy for Chinese families of adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A photo-elicitation study

This article reports the therapeutic resources in the natural outdoors that were conducive to the therapeutic process in a multi-family therapy (MFT) for enhancing the self-efficacy and collective family efficacy of Chinese families of adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Hong Kong. Photo-elicited interviews with adolescents with ADHD and parent focus groups were employed to explore the participatory experiences of the families. A total of thirteen Chinese families of adolescents (aged 11–15 years) with ADHD participated in this study (fourteen adolescents with ADHD, eight fathers and ten mothers). The present study explored the potential therapeutic resources in the natural outdoors, namely a change in the group environment, spaciousness and darkness. The use of the natural outdoors in MFT proved to be a strategy useful for creating a naturalistic group setting within which family participants can more easily enact changes.     

The second order approximation to sample influence curve in canonical correlation analysis

A second order approximation to the sample influence curve (SIC) in canonical correlation analysis has been derived in the literature. However, it does not seem satisfactory for some cases. In this paper, we present a more accurate second order approximation. As a particular case, the proposed method is exact for the SIC of the squared multiple correlation coefficient. An example is given. The authors are most grateful to the associate editor and three reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions which improved the presentation of the paper considerably. The first author was partly supported by a RGC earmarked research grant of Hong Kong.     

Variability in the timing of responses during repetitive tapping with alternate hands

Summary This paper addresses the question of whether a simple two-stage account of variability in timing developed for single-hand repetitive tapping is applicable to regular tapping with the hands in alternation. The task required key presses at a steady rate, previously set by a periodic auditory signal. On separate blocks of trials four subjects used the index finger of the left hand or of the right hand at intervals of 200, 400, and 800 ms or alternated between the hands at intervals of 100, 200, or 400 ms. For each subject the variability of the between-hand intervals in the 200- and 400-ms alternate-hand conditions was greater than the variability of the same interval in the single-hand conditions. In the 100-ms alternate-hand condition correlations between adjacent (between-hand) intervals were reliably less then –.5. These results are inconsistent with the simple two-stage model, and two variants are shown to provide a better qualitative fit to at least some aspects of the data.     

华人人际关系的概念化——针对中国香港大学生的实证研究

以杨中芳所构建的华人人际关系概念化理论模型为蓝本,并用以往的实证研究方法为基础,揭示了当代华人对人际关系如何进行概念化及其潜在的认知维度。杨氏模型认为华人人际关系主要由既定成分、情感成分和工具成分组成。该研究以中国香港大学生为被试进行调查,首先采用访谈的形式,分家族、学校及日常生活情境建立人际关系清单。然后采用多维量法（Multi-dimensional scaling）处理被试对关系进行分类的数据。结果发现,在不同的生活情境中,被试均依据情感程度对关系进行分类。在等级差异明显的家族和学校情境中,被试依据辈份和等级差异的突显性进行区分;而在等级差异小的生活情境中,则采用功利程度为标准。本文对被试在不同情境中所采用的不同维度进行了讨论,并提出华人人际关系的义务具有工具性质的实证结果