Selective attention to multidimensional auditory stimuli

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited by multidimensional auditory stimuli were recorded from the scalp in a selective-attention task. Subjects listened to tone pips varying orthogonally between two levels each of pitch, location, and duration and responded to longer duration target stimuli having specific values of pitch and location. The discriminability of the pitch and location attributes was varied between groups. By examining the ERPs to tones that shared pitch and/or locational cues with the designated target, we inferred interrelationships among the processing of these attributes. In all groups, stimuli that failed to match the target tone in an easily discriminable cue elicited only transitory ERP signs of selective processing. Tones sharing the "easy" but not the "hard" cue with the target elicited ERPs that indicated more extensive processing, but not as extensive as stimuli sharing both cues. In addition, reaction times and ERP latencies to the designated targets were not influenced by variations in the discriminability of pitch and location. This pattern of results is consistent with parallel, self-terminating models and holistic models of processing and contradicts models specifying either serial or exhaustive parallel processing of these dimensions. Both the parallel, self-terminating models and the holistic models provide a generalized mechanism for hierarchical stimulus selections that achieve an economy of processing, an underlying goal of classic, multiple-stage theories of selective attention.     

Social influence processes affecting adolescent substance use

Social influence is central to models of adolescent substance use. Nonetheless, researchers fail to delineate the various forms of social influence. A framework that distinguishes between active (explicit drug offers) and passive (social modeling and overestimation of friends' use) social pressure was tested. The effect of these processes on alcohol and cigarette use was examined with 526 seventh graders taking part in an alcohol prevention program. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that pretest measures of alcohol use, offers, modeling, and overestimation each accounted for unique variance in posttest alcohol use. Similar results were obtained for cigarette smoking. The general model was not significantly different for boys and girls, or for prior users and prior nonusers, supporting the generalizability of the framework. Implications for intervention programs are discussed.     

Relationship of self-concept and vocational maturity to vocational preferences of adolescents

This study investigated the differences in vocational attitude maturity and self-concept among Holland's six vocational categories. Data regarding self-concept, vocational attitude maturity, and vocational preference were gathered from 846 students randomly selected from grades 8–12 in an urban school system. An analysis of variance supported the research hypotheses: (1) There were significant differences in vocational attitude maturity among students in the six vocational categories; (2) there were significant differences in self-concept among students in the six vocational categories; (3) there was a significant relationship between vocational attitude maturity and self-concept among students in specific vocational categories.     

Parent-Implemented Early Social Communication Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Behavioral Education - Numerous developmental difficulties differentiate children with autism from typically developing children, including delays in social communication skills. In this...     

The effects of statistical training on choice heuristics in choice under uncertainty

Kahneman and Tversky (1984) proposed that decision makers perceive choice uncertainty in two ways: (1) as a distribution of possible outcomes or (2) as a single uncertain outcome. Using statistical training as a factor that influences these perceptions, and thus the type of decision approach individuals use, we found that individuals with different levels of experience displayed differences in the decisions they made and in the choice heuristics used to make those decisions. Statistically naive individuals were more likely to prefer loss-minimizing alternatives, use a more non-compensatory heuristic, and spend more time on loss-related information than their statistically experienced counterparts. When a distributional cue, indicating the distributional nature of choice outcomes, was presented to both experience groups, the naive group was found to use a decision approach similar to the experienced group and to make similar decisions. The results are discussed in terms of the need to include factors that alter individuals' approaches to uncertainty in future behavioral models of uncertain choice.     

Teaching cultural sensitivity in psychological assessment: a modular approach used in a distance education program

In this article, I describe the teaching and evaluation of 8 multicultural assessment competencies in an American Psychological Association accredited, distance education, clinical psychology doctoral program. This modular approach consists of 15 hr of face-to-face, didactic and experiential multicultural assessment training designed to (a) augment personal awareness, (b) develop a conceptual base, (c) provide exposure to available assessment technologies, (d) ensure an understanding of an integrative model of culturally sensitive assessment, and (e) offer opportunities to apply this material to assessment cases. In addition to completing this training, students are evaluated on these competencies as part of their preinternship clinical comprehensive. I present preliminary evaluative outcome data as well as a critique of this approach.     

An Exploration of Johnson's Sense of ‘Argument’

This essay attempts to give definitions and identity conditions for the two predominant senses of Argument currently in use, the one involving reasons for a conclusion and the other denoting an expressed disagreement with ensuing verbal behaviour by two parties. I see Johnson's new concept of Argument, as developed in his book Manifest Rationality, as a hybrid of the two common senses of Argument, and, accordingly, I try to define and give the identity conditions of Johnson-arguments. Finally, I disagree with Johnson on the nature of the definition he thinks he has proposed, and I conclude with observations suggesting that his logical perspective has dialectical and rhetorical components.