Sexually abused girls and their Rorschach responses

Exner's scoring (1990) was used on the responses by 46 sexually abused girls (6 to 14 years old) and 46 nonsexually abused girls (6 to 14 years old). Subjects were matched for age, race, family income, and family constellation. Sexually abused children exhibited significantly more unusual content, e.g., sex and blood, in their protocols as well as more frequent coping deficits.     

A helpful argument — Reply to K. Eichner

Das von K. Eichner konstruierte Gegenbeispiel ist logisch nicht stichhaltig. Trotzdem ist sein Einwand hilfreich. Er zeigt nämlich, daß die starke Falsifikation, die notwendig ist, um die Vorschrift des Falsifikationismus zu rechtfertigen, daß eine Theorie aufgrund eines einzigen Gegenbeispiels zu verwerfen sei, durch Beobachtungsdaten widerlegt werden kann. Auf diese Weise wird erneut das Scheitern einer deduktiven Begründung für die Falsifikationsmethodologie und damit die Gültigkeit der Symmetriethese erwiesen.     

Developmental changes in units of processing in reading

A visual search task was used to investigate the development of word processing skills used in reading meaningful prose. Children from the second and fourth grades and college students were asked to locate a prespecified letter, syllable, word, or category exemplar as they read through sentences. Target detection time, sentence reading time, and sentence comprehension were measured. The results provide converging evidence that whole words were the preferred units of processing during reading for all three grade levels. Reading rates for sentences in the word search condition were comparable to normal reading rates. The search for smaller units required additional processing time, but word and category search times differed only for the youngest subjects.     

Nonselective read-out from iconic memory in normal, borderline and retarded adolescents

The hypothesis that retarded individuals read-out information from iconic memory at a slower rate, relative to their CA matched peers, was tested. Three IQ groups (normal, borderline and retarded) were selected with 10 subjects in each group. A tachistoscope presented a stimulus array and a post-stimulus cue for 100 msec. each, separated by a variable interstimulus interval (ISI). This stimulus array consisted of 10 letters arranged on two horizontal rows. The post-stimulus cue was a circle which surrounded the position of the correct letter. Nine ISIs were used and ranged from −100 (cue before array) to 500 msec. A 3 × 9 repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed non-significant effects for IQ and the IQ × ISI interaction. A significant effect was found for ISIs (p < .01) which reflected reduced performance at the intermediate ISIs for all intelligence groups. The hypothesis of a read-out deficit in the retarded was not supported. The present findings were discussed in relation to previous research which supported a read-out deficit in the retarded.     

Neue Medien,neue Forschungsinitiativen

Summary. Two new research programs which are funded by the German Science Foundation are aimed at establishing cognitive media psychology in Germany. The main question of the thematic research program "Net-based Knowledge Communication in Groups" concerns the new forms of communication using net-based technologies and their effective use for the exchange and acquisition of knowledge. Similar questions are posed by the virtual Ph.D. program "Knowledge Acquisition and Exchange with New Media". In contrast to other Ph.D. programs in German this one is not located at a specific place, but distributed over several research institutions all over the country. This setting enables students to collaborate with other tutors and students at the different locations. Zusammenfassung. Mit zwei neuen Förderprogrammen der DFG soll versucht werden, eine kognitionspsychologisch orientierte Medienforschung in Deutschland zu verankern. Im Mittelpunkt des Schwerpunktprogramms "Netzbasierte Wissenskommunikation in Gruppen" steht die Frage, wie sich neue Kommunikationsformen, die durch netzbasierte (computergestützte) Technologien möglich werden, für den Austausch und den Erwerb von Wissen in Gruppen effektiv nutzen lassen. Mit einer ähnlichen Fragestellung befasst sich auch das virtuelle Graduiertenkolleg "Wissenserwerb und Wissensaustausch mit neuen Medien". Im Gegensatz zu anderen Graduiertenkollegs ist es nicht ortsgebunden sondern verteilt über mehrere Forschungsinstitutionen. Es ermöglicht somit eine ortsübergreifende Betreuung und Zusammenarbeit der Kollegiatinnen bzw. Kollegiaten.     

A counterexample to two-dimensional varimax-rotation

Usually, an iterative procedure based on two-dimensional rotations is employed to find the varimax solution in factor analysis. A matrix is given where this procedure does not yield the maximum value of the varimax criterion. However, random orthogonal transformations of some matrices and subsequent varimax-rotation using the iterative procedure seem to indicate that usually no local maxima exist.     

The Nature of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Stimmungen</Emphasis>

This essay comprises two chapters from the first part of Bollnow’s book on moods (Das Wesen der Stimmungen), namely the second chapter on the concept of Stimmung and the third chapter on Stimmungen as the sustaining foundation of the soul. It argues that moods constitute the simplest and most original form in which human life comes to know itself. Moods are understood as a specific harmony between, first, the inner and outer world; second, the states of the body and the soul; and, third, the individual faculties of the soul. Moods differ from emotions in the narrow sense, which are always intentionally directed towards a specific object, whereas moods do not have any specific object; they are states of being, structuring and coloring human existence as a whole. Hence, no system of moods is provided, but their extensive diversity is indicated. Furthermore, transient, unsteady, or “moody” moods (Launen) are distinguished from persistent or basic moods (beständige Lebensstimmungen).     

A guideline for integrating dynamic areas of interests in existing set-up for capturing eye movement: Looking at moving aircraft

Today, capturing the behavior of a human eye is considered a standard method for measuring the information-gathering process and thereby gaining insights into cognitive processes. Due to the dynamic character of most task environments there is still a lack of a structured and automated approach for analyzing eye movement in combination with moving objects. In this article, we present a guideline for advanced gaze analysis, called IGDAI (Integration Guideline for Dynamic Areas of Interest). The application of IGDAI allows gathering dynamic areas of interest and simplifies its combination with eye movement. The first step of IGDAI defines the basic requirements for the experimental setup including the embedding of an eye tracker. The second step covers the issue of storing the information of task environments for the dynamic AOI analysis. Implementation examples in XML are presented fulfilling the requirements for most dynamic task environments. The last step includes algorithms to combine the captured eye movement and the dynamic areas of interest. A verification study was conducted, presenting an air traffic controller environment to participants. The participants had to distinguish between different types of dynamic objects. The results show that in comparison to static areas of interest, IGDAI allows a faster and more detailed view on the distribution of eye movement.