Effects of association,frequency, and stimulus quality on naming words in the presence or absence of pseudowords

According to classical dual-route theory, effects of associative priming and frequency on the naming of printed words arise from lexical access and should be weak or absent when word names are assembled prelexically. Assembled naming would be more likely in a shallow orthography, especially in the presence of nonwords. This hypothesis was examined with the shallow Serbo-Croatian orthography. Interactions between association, frequency, and stimulus quality were also examined in both Serbo-Croatian and English. Contrary to classical dual-route theory, both lexical effects were found for naming words in Serbo-Croatian, with or without nonwords. Neither interaction was significant in Serbo-Croatian and only association X quality was significant in English. Discussion focused on (a) the claim that lexical effects on naming in a shallow orthography constitute prima facie evidence against either prelexical phonology or the orthographic depth hypothesis, and (b) the possible factorization of frequency and active associative knowledge in naming words.     

Mental patients as computer operators

Tactics of design are described for programs to be used by chronic psychiatric patients on an accounting task in the maintenance of records of token economies at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. To address the patients’ cognitive, motoric, and motivational deficiencies, special attention was paid to display features, branching formats, error detection, feedback, and keyboard utilization.     

Intelligence in Hong Kong measured for Spearman's g and the visuospatial and verbal primaries

Values for Spearman's g for Hong Kong are calculated from data derived from the administration of Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices to several thousand children. The results indicate that the mean IQ in Hong Kong for the mid 1980s is approximately 108 in relation to a Caucasian mean of 100 for the United States and the United Kingdom. Values for the spatial and perceptual speed primaries are also substantially higher in Hong Kong. On the other hand Hong Kong children are relatively weak on the word fluency primary. The pattern of abilities of Chinese Hong Kong children is broadly similar to that obtained on other Mongoloid populations.     

Near-death experience: A review from pastoral psychology

Published interpretations of near-death experience from the vantage of pastoral psychology are virtually nonexistent. Subjective reports from survivors and investigative contributions from other disciplines are scattered and diverse. A comparison of twenty-one near-death experience transcendence accounts with the available literature may not only offer direction for further systematic inquiry but also contribute to our pastoral understanding of life and death.He is a candidate for the S.T.D. in pastoral psychology at San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, California, and a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.The author gratefully acknowledges the help of his brother, Michael B. Sabom. M.D., of the Emory University Medical School, Atlanta. Georgia, in the preparation of this article, it is to his continuing pastoral work with NDE survivors that this article is dedicated.     

Impaired ranking of semantic attributes in dementia

The present work explored the loss of semantic attributes that is said to occur in dementia. In the first two experiments, subjects had to select attributes that went with concepts like airplane and church. The finding that demented subjects maintained high levels of accuracy when selecting attributes suggested that the semantic content of their concepts was relatively well preserved. The organization of the content was explored in a third experiment by having subjects order attributes according to their relative importance in defining concepts. While demented subjects performed better than chance, they did not rank attributes as well as healthy aged subjects, suggesting a disruption in organization whereby the importance of central attributes is reduced. The hypothesized disruption in organization is viewed in relation to the learning and memory deficit that is the hallmark of the dementias.