Student Response to Three Types of Orientation Programs

A high proportion of positive responses was obtained from students who participated in three different types of pre-college orientation programs. Small group approaches consistently elicited more favorable responses than assemblies or large groups. Greater faculty involvement resulted in participants' noting an increased academic emphasis. Participants believed they had benefited in some way from programs which varied considerably as to length, activities, organization, and purposes.     

Effects of visual aids on acquisition of selected tennis skills

The study compared the effects of supplemental visual aids on the acquisition of selected tennis skills. The forehand and backhand drive placement tests of the Hewitt Tennis Achievement Test were used to pretest, midtest, and posttest 55 subjects who were assigned to one of three treatments: control (instructor's verbal feedback only), videotaped replay viewing (with instructor's feedback), and loop-film viewing (modeling, with instructor's feedback). Each received 1200 min. of instruction. There were no statistically significant differences among groups; however, empirical evidence suggested that the use of videotaped replay and loop-film technique has merit and might be given consideration for use in instructional settings.     

MMPI profiles of adolescents charged with homicide

Study of adolescent violence has been impeded by failure to distinguish among the circumstances in which youth engage in violent behavior. The present study investigated MMPI profiles of 36 adolescent murderers and a control group of 18 adolescents charged with larceny. Homicide cases were subgrouped into those who committed homicide secondary to another crime (e.g., robbery or rape) and those who acted in the context of interpersonal conflict with the victim. While there were no significant differences between homicide and larceny groups, crime and conflict subgroups were significantly different on scales F, Hs, Hy, and Sc.     

Solving the rod-and-frame test in a tachistoscopic presentation: Effects of stimulus size and perceptual style

This research was undertaken to demonstrate, with correlational evidence, that presenting the rod-and-frame test (RIT) with either limited (tachistoscopic) or unlimited (Oltman’s, 1968, portable RFT) exposure time does not significantly affect the ranking of subjects. The underlying hypothesis is that the intersubject variability of performance on the portable RFT is due essentially to differences in sensitivity to the optostatic vection that appears automatically and almost immediately. Results of the tachistoscopic test show that the effect of angular size of the stimulus is similar to that described in the literature for unlimited time situations, and that subjects’ ranking is very similar regardless of the exposure time (W = .80). However, although a difference is observed between the means of low and high achievers in both types of RFT, intraindividual intertask homogeneity (correlation coefficient) is not verified in each of these subgroups. From these results, one can distinguish two processes in the RFT: the first, vections, has to do with the subject’s postural orientation and seems to playa great role in organizing interindividual differences. The second process, a more cognitive one, has a less striking effect and has to do with the selection of reference frames in perceptual organization.     

Validity of the Threat Index.

The validity of the Threat Index was examined in a study of 42 students and 15 HIV+ clients. When completing the Threat Index, subjects rate the self and death on 30 bipolar adjectives. A count is made of the number of times the same adjective poles are used to describe the self and death. Uses of the same poles are called matches, while uses of different poles are called splits. The Threat Index is based on the assumption that splits indicate threat. Analysis showed that neither splits nor matches were usually threatening and that neither was necessary or sufficient for the experience of threat. These results did not support the validity of the Threat Index.     

Effects of preliminary perceptual output on neuronal activity of the primary motor cortex.

Observations of single neurons in the primary motor cortex of 1 monkey provided evidence that preliminary perceptual information reaches the motor system before perceptual analysis is complete. Neurons were recorded during a task in which 1 stimulus was assigned to a wrist flexion response and another was assigned to wrist extension. Two stimuli were assigned to a no-go response; each was visually similar to either the flexion or the extension stimulus. When a no-go stimulus was presented, neurons responded with weaker versions of the discharge patterns exhibited to the visually similar stimulus requiring a movement, suggesting that neurons receive partial perceptual information favoring that movement. Functionally separable neuronal populations were identified, and differences in the activations of these provide evidence about the functional effects of preliminary perceptual output on movement control processes.     

Representation by counsel: Right or obligation?

Since the Supreme Court's decision in Faretta v. California (1975), courts have generally permitted defendants to represent themselves, as long as they are competent to do so. The problem lies in the definition of competency to waive counsel, which has been vaguely defined by the courts. Little is known about the frequency of, or reasons for, attempts to waive counsel, about the process of forensic evaluation of such competency, and about the success of such attempts. The authors briefly review the case law on competency to waive representation, report on a longitudinal prospective study of these issues in a population of defendants referred to an inpatient forensic facility for evaluation of all types of competency related to their criminal prosecutions, and discuss the significance of the issue for forensic clinicians. A key question for courts, lawyers, and clinicians is whether a competency evaluation can be invoked to overcome a defendant's constitutional rights to self-representation and bail.