Binocular summation in the evoked cortical potential

Computer-averaged evoked potentials were recorded from six subjects presented with flashes under conditions of binocular and monocular viewing, with a device fitted over each eye to produce ganzfeld conditions. Tests were run with red light and with blue. Analysis of the evoked potentials indicates a substantially larger amplitude with binocular stimulation.     

Interview training with adolescents—A controlled group study incorporating generalization and social validation

Ten school-leavers were allocated either to an interview-training group (E) or a discussion control group (C) for three sessions. For E group a combination of modelling, coaching, roleplay, feedback and discussion was used to train both verbal and non-verbal interview skills. An attempt was made to programme generalization of treatment effect into training and subjective evaluations of interview skill were made by an experienced Personnel Officer to assess the social importance of the skills trained. After C group had completed three sessions to control for the non-specific effects of being in therapy, they received the same training as E group. Subjects were assessed using videotaped roleplayed interviews at the beginning and end of each training phase. After training E group showed significant improvements on both global and specific ratings of interview skill compared to C group; there was evidence of generalization and maintenance of treatment effect and the social importance of the skills trained was substantiated by the subjective evaluation data. C group then went on to replicate the changes in E group.     

Intelligence and the rest of cognition

Cognitive psychologists have become enamored with intelligence. Increasingly, the theories, findings, and methods of what is known as the information processing approach are being used in attempts to explain intelligence related phenomena. This article examines intelligence from a different perspective, which emphasizes domain-specific constraints on knowledge structures. It is argued that conceptions of what intelligence is and how it relates to the rest of cognition can vary considerably when viewed from the vantage points of these two perspectives. The constraints approach views intelligence as being closely related to a special subset of all of our cognitive abilities and as having unique distinguishing properties. It is also argued that the evaluation of any cognitive ability as being intelligent depends crucially on a prior specification of the formal constraints on the domain or domains of knowledge from which that ability originates.     

The statistical analysis of a thurstonian model for rating chess players

This paper formalizes and provides static and dynamic estimators for a scaling model for rating chess players. The model was suggested by the work of Arpad Elo, the inventor of the chess rating system in current use by both the United States and international chess federations. The model can be viewed as a Thurstone Case V model that permits draws (ties). A related model based on a linear approximation is also analyzed. In the chess application, possibly changing ability parameters are estimated sequentially from sparse data structures that often involve many fewer than $\text{M(M ? 1)}\text{2}$ observations on the M players to the rated. In contrast, psychological applications of paired-comparison scaling generally use models with no draw provision to estimate static parameters from a systematically obtained data structure such as a replicated “round robin” involving all M entities to be scaled. In the paper, both static and sequential estimators are provided and evaluated for a number of different data structures. Sampling theory for the estimators is developed. The application of rating systems to track temporally changing ability parameters may prove useful in many areas of psychology.     

Adolescent Protective and Risk Factors for Incarceration through Early Adulthood

Journal of Child and Family Studies - With 2.3 million individuals incarcerated in the United States, incarceration remains a pressing social influence on health. While risk factors for...