Word association and the acquisition of reading

Two studies relating reading ability to word association responses were carried out. The first involved early readers and matched control children from pre-first-grade classes. There were 29 early readers and 29 nonreading controls matched for age, sex, and IQ. The early readers were found to give significantly more paradigmatic, or same-form-class, responses than the controls. The second study related reading ability, mental age, and word association responses in developmentally delayed teen-agers and young adults, and pre-first-grade children who varied in reading ability. With partial correlation reading ability was found to be related to paradigmatic responding, while mental age was not significantly related. These results indicate that reading acquisition may change word association responses in children through a reorganizing process in the lexicon.The authors would like to thank the Halifax and Dartmouth School Boards for their cooperation. We would also like to thank Paul Cable of Special Education, and the principals and teachers: Beth Conrad, Karen Duerdan, Elaine Fram, Peter Montgomery, Wayne Serebrin, and Bill Schipilow. Their help was greatly appreciated. An earlier version of study 1 was presented at the American Psychological Association meeting in Los Angeles, August 1981.     

Book reviews

Johnson-Laird, P. N. and Wason, P. C. (Eds). Thinking: Readings in Cognitiwe Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1977. Pp. xii+615. ISBN 0 521 21756 3. £17.50. (Also paperback ISBN 0 521 29267 0. £5.95.)

Marks, L. E. The Unity of the Senses. Interrelations among the Modalities. London: Academic Press. 1978. Pp. 289. ISBN 0 12 472960 6. £11.35.

Callaway, E., Tueting, P. and Koslow, S. H. (Eds). Event-Related Brain Potentials in Man. New York: Academic Press. 1978. Pp. ix+630. ISBN 0 12 155150 4. £22.00.

Clifford, B. R. and Bull, R. The Psychology of Person Identification. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1978. Pp. 254. ISBN 0 7100 8867 1. £7.95.

Albert, M. A. and Obler, L. K. The Bilingual Brain. New York: Academic Press. 1978. Pp. 302. ISBN 0 12 048750 0. £12.65.

Welch, R. B. Perceptual Modification: Adapting to Altered Sensory Environments. London: Academic Press. 1978. Pp. 346. ISBN 0 12 741850 4. £15.90.

Wales, R. J. and Walker, E. (Eds). New Approaches to Language Mechanisms. Amsterdam: North-Holland. 1976. Pp. 296. ISBN 0 7204 0523 8. $19.75.

Lomax, E. M. R. Science and Patterns of Child Care. San Francisco: Freeman. 1978. Pp. 247. ISBN 0 7167 0296 7. Hardback £5.50; paperback £3.70.

Armington, J. C., Krauskopf, J. and Wooten, B. R. (Eds). Visual Psychophysics and Physiology New York: Academic Press 1978 Pp 488 ISBN 0 12 062260 0. $29.50.

Williams, M. Brain Damage, Behaviour and the Mind. Chichester: Wiley. 1979. Pp. 187. ISBN 0 471 99704 8. £8.50.     

Computing and comparing correlation and regression coefficients using a pocket calculator

Programs suitable for pocket calculators using reverse Polish notation are described. Program 1 computes regression coefficients, correlation coefficient, and standard error of estimate for paired data. Program 2 performs at test to compare the slopes of two regression lines. Program 3 computes F ratios to test the departure of a regression slope from zero and to test linearity of the regression. Programs 4 and 5 test the significance of (differences between independent and correlated correlation coefficients, respectively.     

Dimensions Of Interpersonal Relationships And Safety In The Steel Industry

This paper extends theories explaining the influence of social determinants on workplace safety. Specifically, we applied social capital theorys emphasis of trust, shared norms, and faithfulness to obligations to the outcomes of at-risk behavior and perceptions of a safe work environment. Data provided by 395 employees of a major steel company supported the hypothesis that shared employee norms predicted both perceptions of work environment safety and at-risk behavior, trust in supervisor predicted perceptions of a safe work environment, and belief in managements safety values predicted at-risk behaviors.This study received funding from Marsh, Inc. in support of their continuing interest in creating safer more productive work environments. We would like to thank William Grimes, Dean Larson and Dennis Morajda for their support and contribution to this research.     

Genetic influences on language impairment and phonological short-term memory

It has been known for some years that specific language impairment (SLI), an unexpected failure to acquire age-appropriate language skills, is highly heritable. However, molecular genetic studies have been hampered by the heterogeneity of the disorder and the predominant lack of clear genotype-phenotype relationships. We review recent studies suggesting that a better understanding of the genetics of SLI might emerge if we move away from clinical criteria for diagnosis to look instead at a theoretically based quantitative and cognitive measure of the phenotype: a test of phonological short-term memory (STM). Deficient phonological STM has been linked to specific genetic loci, and might play a role in determining some types of reading impairment as well as SLI. Identifying those cognitive deficits that work best as indices of heritable phenotypes will help us to uncover the aetiology of developmental disorders.     

The use of ecological momentary assessment to test appraisal theories of emotion

Although appraisal theories have received strong empirical support, there are methodological concerns about the research, including biased recall, heuristic responding, ethical issues, and weak and unrealistic induction of emotions in laboratories. To provide a more ecologically valid test of appraisal theories, the authors used ecological momentary assessment, in which the emotions and appraisals of Singaporean police officers were measured online over the course of an ordinary workday. The research focused on happiness. Support was obtained for predictions, demonstrating the generalizability of appraisal theories to a nonlaboratory setting and circumventing the shortcomings of previously used methodologies. Also, evidence was obtained that happiness was reported primarily in association with a specific combination of 3 relevant appraisals: high pleasantness, high perceived control, and low moral violation.     

Visual dissociation of digitized photographs

Visual dissociation occurs when a visual marker from one display in a rapidly presented sequence (e.g., 9 item/sec) is perceived as having occurred in a temporally adjacent display. Three experiments that evaluated the application of computer graphics technology to study this phenomenon with digitized color photographs are reported. The primary concern was that visible phosphor persistence might artificially increase the frequency of integration errors. In Experiment 1, visible phosphor persistence was assessed using a multiple-repetition shutter test to determine which stimulus conditions did not yield reportable persistence. On the basis of these results, visual dissociation performance when the same color photographs were presented using mechanical 16-mm projection (as in previous research) and when they were presented on a computer monitor were compared in Experiments 2 and 3. The results supported computer application, in that computer presentation yielded the same pattern of errors and accuracy levels as did research using mechanical projection.     

Tracing response parameter preparation strategies using transition times

Latencies were measured using a modified four-choice reaction time (4-CRT) test procedure; the responses comprised forward and backward displacements of left- and right-hand levers. Two stimuli were presented, separated by an interval (ISI) of 25, 165, 415 or 815 msec. S1 designated which response should be readied; and on 62% of occasions, S2 indicated that the prepared response should be executed immediately (same trials). During transition trials, S2 specified which one of the alternative responses should be substituted. Same conditions produced significantly shorter reaction times. Transition latencies varied depending on the modification required: changing direction proved easier than changing either hand or hand and direction. This is compatible with a response coding strategy in which limb is designated before direction. Latencies and exchange function analyses that preparations were discontinued after response selection; even at the longest ISI, there was no convincing evidence of preparatory motor programming.