Contextual effects on the ability of divers to use decompression tables

The present study compared the ability of novice divers to apply decompression tables having learnt how to use them in either the same or a different environment. Those subjects who had learnt how to use the tables in a different environment (i. e. had learnt on dry land and were tested underwater or vice-versa) performed on average 64 percent worse than those who had the same environment for both learning and test. This effect could not be ascribed to the disruption brought about by changing environments. The results show that contextual effects on memory extend beyond the recall of word lists (Godden and Baddeley, 1975) to the ability to implement potentially important instructions.     

Taking visual disability into account: Explaining failure to experts and non-experts

The present study was designed to investigate visually handicapped students' explanations for failure when the motive to maintain or enhance self-esteem was in conflict with the motive to present a favorable social image. Subjects experienced manipulated failure in a text comprehension task and were subsequently asked to give causal and responsibility attributions in the presence of either a visually handicapped or a non-handicapped experimenter. It was expected that visually disabled participants would claim a handicap-bonus from the non-handicapped experimenter by explicitly presenting non-defensive attributions and accounts as well as handicap-related responses, while defensive explanations should be more pronounced when faced with a blind experimenter. The data provide support for the existence of presumed social expectations as determinants of individuals' verbal self-presentations.     

Self-Monitoring negative statements

We examined the effects of a self-monitoring program on reducing the frequency of negative statements of a student with mild mental retardation who was enrolled in a self-contained classroom at a middle school. A changing criterion design was used within a multiple baseline design across two classroom periods. Additionally, the frequency of positive statements was reported. The results showed a decrease in the number of negative statements, and an increase in the number of positive statements. Maintenance data collected up to 8 weeks after the program ended indicated that the student continued to emit positive rather than negative statements. The use of this procedure to decelerate undesirable behavior is discussed.     

Perceived numerosity of spatiotemporal events

Numerosity discrimination was examined when items were varied in space-time position rather than in space only. Observers were instructed to indicate which of two adjacent streamsof visual events contained more items. The precision of numerosity discrimination of dynamic events was not remarkably different from that of static patterns. Two basic numerosity biases previously found for static dot patterns—inhibitory overestimation and satellite underestimation—were demonstrated for items distributed randomly over a spatiotemporal interval. It was also demonstrated that two streams, equated in the number and luminous energy of items, are not judged equal in their visible number if items in one of these two streams have longer duration than items in the second stream. These findings can be accounted for by the occupancy model of perceived numerosity (Allik & Tuulmets, 1991a) if it is supposed that the impact that each element has on its neighborhood is spread along both spatial and temporal coordinates. Perceived numerosity decreases with both spatial and temporal proximity between the-visual-items. Space and time have interchangeable effects on perceived numerosity: the amount of numerosity bias caused by the spatial proximity of items can also be produced by the properly chosen temporal proximity of items     

Additivity of loudness across critical bands: A critical test

The use of magnitude estimation as well as axiomatic measurement theory has led to the suggestion that loudness adds across critical bands. In the present paper, we challenge this postulate by applying a more sensitive methodology, based on Falmagne’s (1976) random conjoint measurement procedure. A necessary condition for additivity of loudness was investigated in tone complexes consisting of 2-kHz and 5-kHz (resp. 3-kHz) components; the results showed systematic deviations from additivity. We argue that these deviations are due to asymmetric masking of the higher component by the lower one, and we propose a tentative quantitative model to account for the data. Such a model is in line with results from tone-on-tone masking, which show masking to be effective over a range of several critical bands.     

Information-processing differences and laterality of students from different colleges and disciplines

1023 college students were assessed for hemispheric brain dominance using the paper-and-pencil test, the Human Information Processing Survey. Analysis of scores of students majoring in Advertising, Interior Design, Music, Journalism, Art, Oral Communication, and Architecture suggested a preference for right-brain hemispheric processing, while scores of students majoring in Accounting, Management, Finance, Computer Science, Mathematics, Nursing, Funeral Service, Criminal Justice, and Elementary Education suggested a preference for left-hemispheric strategies for processing information. The differential effects of hemispheric processing in an educational system emphasizing the left-hemispheric activities of structured logic and sequential processing suggests repression of the intellectual development of those students who may be genetically favorable to right-hemispheric processing.     

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome--3 case reports

An account is given of three patients who exhibited a malignant neuroleptic syndrome after the administration of neuroplegics. Like other authors, we identified typical elicitation factors and clinical characteristics. In one case a catatonic dilemma with lethal issue was observed. In the final case dealt with in this paper, the renewed application of neuroplegics following the termination of the malignant neuroleptic syndrome was tolerated without complications, whereas in the case of an epileptic patient with damage to the brain, the malignant neuroleptic syndrome returned upon dosage increase.     

Measures of concurrent validity and alternate-form reliability of the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence

The subjects, 60 undergraduate students, were administered the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (TONI) individually. The Shipley Institute of Living Scale was administered in small groups. A Pearson correlation of .56 was obtained for TONI Quotients, Forms A and B. TONI Quotients, Forms A and B, correlated with Shipley estimated WAIS--R IQ .50 and .46, respectively, and correlated to .71 and .64, with Shipley Total T scores, .52 and .44, respectively (corrected to .71 and .61), with Shipley Abstraction T scores, .51 and .42, respectively (corrected, .63 and .52), and with Shipley Vocabulary T scores .26 and .32, respectively (corrected to .63 and .52). TONI scores seem more closely related to Shipley Total and Abstraction scores than to Shipley Vocabulary.     

Questions at the general hospital. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease in the light of a discussion on the body and soul

The author is an internist in a non-university hospital. He discusses the possibilities and limits of dealing with patients suffering from ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. He demonstrates the clinical importance of a psychoanalytic perspective with three case illustrations.     

Discriminative properties of morphine that modulate associations between tastes and lithium chloride

Wistar rats learned to withhold consumption of a target solution when morphine preceded presentation of the target solution and lithium chloride (LiCl) and to consume the same target solution when saline preceded the presentation of the solution. After this serial feature discrimination training, morphine did not block the formation of a Pavlovian association between saccharin and LiCl but did suppress consumption of familiar tap water. After Pavlovian conditioning, morphine blocked the formation of an association between saccharin and LiCl but did not suppress consumption of a familiar tap water solution. The roles of morphine and saline can be interchanged. It appears that the morphine discriminative stimulus is calling up a representation of neither the conditioned stimulus nor the unconditional stimulus alone, but rather a modified representation of some aspect of their association.