Using tutoring systems to study learning: An application of HyperCard

HyperCard was used to develop a simplified tutoring system whose principles were based on a learning theory, and a genetics tutoring system was evaluated experimentally. Learning was studied by examining immediate versus delayed feedback after an error was made. Such tutoring systems aid in psychological studies of learning, because experimental variables can be easily manipulated. HyperCard provides a good vehicle for tutoring system development, since it requires no extensive programming skills.     

Extraretinal information about eye position during involuntary eye movement: optokinetic afternystagmus

Despite importance for theories of perception, controversy exists as to whether information is available to the perceptual system about involuntary as well as voluntary eye movements. We measured the perceived direction of targets flashed briefly in an otherwise dark field during the primary phase of optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN), an involuntary eye movement that persists in darkness following optokinetic stimulation. Perceived direction was measured by unseen pointing in one experiment and by pointing made under visual control in a second experiment. Pointing was essentially veridical in both experiments, indicating that accurate extra-retinal information about eye position (presumably, as efference copy) exists for OKAN. Illusory motion of visual targets, which can occur during involuntary oculomotor responses, therefore cannot be attributed to a lack of efference-copy signals for such eye movements.     

Developmental change in subjective probability during adolescence

The developmental change in subjective probability during adolescence, an important period for establishing the probability concept, was investigated. 75 Japanese adolescents, from 12 to 23 yr. of age, were asked to make probability judgments for a lottery under 15 conditions. Analysis showed that with increase in age their subjective probability came closer to the objective probability. Discussion of these results took into consideration recent studies on the development of the concept of probability.     

Community psychology in Hong Kong: Past,present, and future

The expansion of mental health services during the 1960s from a single remote mental hospital to centers and clinics in mainstream communities fostered the development of community psychology in Hong Kong. Few psychologists were initially involved in the local community mental health movement, but its momentum resulted in increasing numbers of practitioner psychologists working in community-based service settings. Community psychology in Hong Kong today consists primarily of service delivery, but also includes applied research, community organization/consultation, and community education. Despite having many parallels with the American situation, key concepts underpinning the practice of community psychology in the Territory possess their own character as a reflection of nuances in the local scene. Prospects for the continued development of community psychology in Hong Kong appear favorable. Of special relevance is the field's potential contribution to a better understanding of the psychological phenomena associated with the Territory's sociopolitical transformation in 1997.     

235个图形的命名一致性、熟悉性、表象一致性和视觉复杂性评定

本研究使用命名法和量表评定法,分别对235个图形的命名一致性、熟悉性、表象一致性和视觉复杂性进行了测试。被试为142名大学生,集体施测。结果发现,除命名一致性指标相对较低外,其它三项指标与国外研究结果很接近,表明这套图形基本上是适合我国被试的。相关分析表明,四项指标是不同质的,它们的设置是必要的。其中,熟悉性和命名一致性两个指标是在各种图形实验设计中需要特别注意的。     

Students' preferences for male or female counselors for social and educational problems

Fifty-eight male and 66 female junior high school students were examined to determine their preferences for sex of counselor under personal/social and educational hypothetical counseling situations. Girls demonstrated a definite same-sex preference for both counseling situations, while boys preferred male counselors for personal/social counseling and had opposite-sex preferences for educational counseling. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of earlier contradictory results from research on college students.     

Methodological problems in cross-cultural studies of linguistic relativity

Bloom (1981) tested a weak version of the linguistic relativity hypothesis (i.e., "Language affects thinking though it does not determine thinking") in a series of cross-cultural experiments. According to Bloom, Chinese lacks two linguistic devices that are present in English and supposed to be critical in performing theoretical thinking. It was found that the Chinese subjects were outperformed by American counterparts in all the tests designed to assess the ability of theoretical thinking. The results were taken as evidence for the weak version of the linguistic relativity hypothesis. A methodological consideration has revealed, however, that all of his experiments except one are uninterpretable because of the lack of necessary control conditions. In addition, three experiments in the present study have demonstrated that the findings in Bloom's sole interpretable experiment were artifacts due to a methodological flaw. Further theoretical considerations reveal the inadequacy of Bloom's basic methodology and the limitation in the effects of linguistic relativity that may be possible at least theoretically.     

Hypothesizing and evidence-gathering: the nexus of understanding

Prior discussion of hypothesizing as a session "guideline" has not fully clarified the derivation of hypotheses. Reviewing relevant philosophy of science literature, the authors develop the notions of evidence and evidence-gathering in systemic family therapy. The authors claim evidence-gathering and hypothesizing are interdependent, reciprocal elements of scientific understanding. The structure of evidence is described along with practical and qualitative rules for collecting and using evidence. This model is applied to a case example illustrating the logic of clinical process. Implications are discussed for family therapy training and supervision.     

Timing multimodal events in pigeons

The peak procedure was used in two experiments to study pigeons' ability to time multimodal events. In the first experiment, birds were trained to time a single event consisting of a 9-s tone or light followed by a 21-s fixed interval associated with a signal of light or tone (signal of the other modality). On occasional empty trials, different lengths of the first signal were followed by a long period of the second signal. Peak response times as a function of the duration of the first signal were linear and had a slope of close to one in all birds. This indicates that the birds were timing only the second signal. In a second experiment, two complex events were used in training. One consisted of a 9-s tone or light followed by a 21-s fixed interval associated with a light or tone. The other consisted of a 21-s tone or light followed by a 9-s fixed interval associated with a light or tone. Different durations of the first signal were again used on empty trials. Peak response times as a function of the duration of the first signal were again linear in all birds. The slope of the function was less than one but greater than zero for 3 birds. This indicates that these birds were partly timing the entire complex event of 30-s duration and partly timing only the second signal of the event. A model is proposed in which the bird takes as a criterion for timing a weighted average of different target criteria. Comparisons with the performance of rats are made.