Specific Food Aversion Acquired During Restricted Environmental Stimulation

Two studies, one conducted in Australia and one in Canada, tested the effects of the Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique (REST) on food preferences. Subjects undergoing 24 hours of darkness and silence were either permitted to take some of their favorite high-caloric foods to eat during the session or were given standard laboratory liquid diet food. In the second study, a social isolation condition (without sensory reduction) and a nonconfined control condition were also used. The results reliably indicate that preferred foods taken into the chamber were significantly less favorably rated after REST, while the same experience led to increased liking of previously less preferred foods. Some originally liked items were completely eliminated from the subject's diet after the experiment, while others were eaten significantly less frequently than before. REST has previously been useful in a weight reduction program; its effect in decreasing the attractiveness of highly liked problem foods may add to its impact in this context.     

The relationship between vocational information seeking and educational and vocational decidedness

This investigation explored the relationship between vocational information seeking behavior (VISB) and educational and vocational decidedness. Pre- and postmeasures of VISB and educational and vocational decidedness were given to two groups of “undecided” university freshmen. One group experienced a 3-hr long vocationally oriented life planning workshop and a career planning class module of 10 hr duration; the other experienced only the class module. Correlations between VISB and the two forms of decidedness were low but significant. Cross-lagged and dynamic correlations completed to determine causal effects only minimally supported the hypotheses that engaging in VISB produces an increase in educational and vocational committedness and vice versa. Some possible explanations for this finding are discussed.     

The first glimpse determines the perception of an ambiguous figure

The ambiguous rat-man figure was tachistoscopically presented to 36 subjects in successive segments to test the hypothesis that the starting segment would determine the perception of the figure. Starting segments were selected which were expected to produce the perception of a rat, a man, or either a rat or man. The remaining segments came from figures evaluated in a preliminary study. The selected figures differed in drawn bias and tended to be seen as a rat, a man, or either a rat or a man. The three starting segments were combined factorially with the three levels of drawn bias of the remaining segments. The effect of the starting segment was significant; the effect of drawn bias was not. A further experiment showed that presentation of the rat vs. man starting segments by themselves did not produce a reliable difference. The results support a constructive model of form perception in which the stimulus material first presented establishes a hypothesis which is used to interpret the remaining material.     

THE ROLE OF REFERENTIAL SPEECH IN SIGN LEARNING BY MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN: A COMPARISON OF TOTAL COMMUNICATION AND SIGN-ALONE TRAINING

We conducted two experiments to assess the role of referential speech during sign training in which the spoken words corresponding to signs were receptively known to the participants. An alternating treatments design was used to compare sign acquisition across two teaching conditions in which referents were presented either with or without the corresponding verbal label. During the first experiment, signs were taught concurrently; during the second experiment, signs within each of the respective conditions were taught in a serial fashion. In both experiments, signs taught by total communication were acquired faster than those taught by sign-alone training.     

Rotary motion and efferent readiness

Two experiments were conducted to test the influence of a readiness to make a rotary movement on the perception of rotary motion. In both experiments, Os monocularly viewed a stimulus whose direction of rotation is ambiguous while they were set or prepared to make a crank-turning motor response in a particular direction. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the initially perceived direction of rotation was more stable, i.e., lasted longer, if it was consistent with the direction in which Os were prepared to turn the crank. The effect of a readiness for motor activity on the stability of rotary motion was similar to the previously determined effect of overt motor activity. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the perception of the initial direction of rotation was shaped by a readiness to make a directional motor response.     

I didn't think of that

Consider cases in which an agent simply doesn.t think to do a certain thing, or doesn't think of a crucial consideration favoring doing a certain thing, or intends to do a certain thing but forgets to do it. In such a case, is the agent able to do the thing that she fails to do? Assume that commonly we all-in can do things that we do not do. Here I argue that, given this assumption, in the cases under consideration, too, commonly agents all-in can do the things they fail to do.     

Evaluation of a counselling skills course for health professionals

A counselling skills course run by a London hospital for 11 health professionals was evaluated. The course covered family counselling skills and child management techniques. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used at five times of testing over a period of 10 months. It was found that participants improved self-perceptions of their counselling ability, increased their knowledge of counselling theories, and considered the course to be helpful in their subsequent work with families. There was no significant change in trainees' self-concept scores. Regular supervision was regarded as helpful in consolidating skills and exploring aspects of practice in a safe environment. Issues relating to evaluation research are discussed.     

The linguistic repudiation of Wundt

Wilhelm Wundt's influence on the development of linguistics and psychology was pervasive. The foundations for this web of influence on the sciences of mind and language were laid down in Wundt's own research program, which was quite different from other attempts at founding a new psychology, as it was deeply rooted in German philosophy. This resulted in certain gaps in Wundt's conception of mind and language. These gaps provoked a double repudiation of Wundt's theories, by linguists and psychologists. The psychological repudiation has been studied by historians of psychology, and the linguistic repudiation has been studied by historians of linguistics. The intent of this article is to bring the linguistic repudiation to the attention of historians of psychology, especially the one outlined by two important figures in the history of psychology: Karl Buhler and George Mead.