Effects of figure-ground reversal on the visual-perceptual and visuo-motor performances of cerebral palsied and normal children

Individuals with brain damage often encounter visual perceptual and visuo-motor difficulties. Studies have indicated an improvement in exceptional individuals' performances when the colors of figure-ground materials were reversed. Effects of reversals were studied for spastic cerebral palsied and normal children's scores on the Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration and the Motor-free Visual Perception Test. Normal children performed better than the cerebral palsied children on all tests; the cerebral palsied children performed best on the reversed-format Motor-free Visual Perception Test. Reversal affected neither group's scores on visual-motor integration.     

Improving the test-taking skills of learning-disabled students

16 learning-disabled second- and third-grade students were matched on previous years' achievement scores and grade and assigned at random to experimental and control conditions. Students in the experimental condition were given 8 20-min. sessions of training in test-taking skills particular to the Stanford Achievement Test. Analysis of test scores indicated trained students scored significantly higher on one subtest of a shortened version of the test than students who had not been trained.     

Compliance with homework to employ self-instructions in controlling ice water pain: an analogue to counseling

40 women were taught to use self-statements to cope with pain caused by ice water. The trainer used four different strategies for reassigning a homework task of using self-statements to cope with pain produced by immersing one hand in ice water. The strategies were equally effective in eliciting compliance with the homework assignment.     

The horizontal-vertical illusion in photographs of concrete scenes with and without depth information

On the basis of the hypothesis of misapplied constancy scaling, the perception of an abstract horizontal-vertical illusion figure embedded in photographs of natural scenes with depth cues is investigated. The effect is compared with that of a figure on photographs containing no depth information and with a figure on a neutral surface. It is shown that the magnitude of the illusion in the perspective scenes is greater than in the other two conditions. The results are considered compatible with a constancy theory of the illusion. Finally, the evidence for misapplied constancy scaling in the horizontal-vertical illusion in relation to a retinal theory is discussed.     

Auditory-successive selective attention for learning disabled and normal boys

Improvement in auditory-successive selective attention was noted across the age range of 9 through 16 yr. In contrast to comparable paradigms with visual-simultaneous materials, 30 learning disabled and 30 normal boys did not differ. Results of research on selective attention may be affected by task materials and encoding requirements.     

Cognitive styles: illusory phenomena

The relationship between cognitive style and illusion magnitude was examined using the assimilation and contrast Delboeuf distortions. As in previous research, field dependence correlated positively with assimilation; however, a significant negative correlation with contrast was also found, suggesting that, while field dependence may involve the illusory integration of the stimulus field, field independence may involve its equally illusory differentiation.     

Psychometric studies on the specificity of psychological performance disorders of epileptic patients

Using a psychological test battery for registration of psychic/psychomotoric speed and flexibility/perseveration we examined 78 epileptic patients with different forms of epilepsy and the same number of brain healthy control persons, parallelised in sex, age, education, profession and intelligence. The registrated data were varianz-, correlation- and factoranalised. We found a deceleration of psychic/psychomotoric speed as a primary basic disorder in epileptics. Decreases of flexibility independent of speed were not ascertainable.     

Temporal proximity and reinforcement sensitivity in multiple schedules

Distributions of reinforcers between two components of multiple variable-interval schedules were varied over a number of conditions. Sensitivity to reinforcement, measured by the exponent of the power function relating ratios of responses in the two components to ratios of reinforcers obtained in the components, did not differ between conditions with 15-s or 60-s component durations. The failure to demonstrate the “short-component effect,” where sensitivity is high for short components, was consistent with reanalysis of previous data. With 60-s components, sensitivity to reinforcement decreased systematically with time since component alternation, and was higher in the first 15-s subinterval of the 60-s component than for the component whose total duration was 15 s. Varying component duration and sampling behavior at different times since component transition may not be equivalent ways of examining the effects of average temporal distance between components.     

Sequential effects in dimensional contrast

Two experiments examined pigeons' response rates during short trials signaled by stimuli closely spaced along a wavelength continuum. In Experiment 1 separate halves of the continuum were correlated with different reinforcement schedules. In Experiment 2, the middle stimulus was accompanied by a lower probability of reinforcement than were the remaining wavelengths. Both procedures resulted in dimensional contrast “shoulders,” seen as relatively enhanced or depressed response rates in the presence of stimuli between the extreme of the continuum and the border separating the positive and negative stimuli. Sequential analyses addressed possible contributions of the following interactions: (a) local contrast, seen when rate during a given schedule depends on the schedule in the just-preceding trial; (b) modification of local contrast by the similarity of the signaling stimuli (P. Blough, 1983); and (c) schedule-independent rate contrast, seen when rate in a given trial depends on the rate controlled by the stimulus that accompanied the just-preceding trial (Malone & Rowe, 1981). Dimensional contrast functions were similar when isolated according to the schedule, to the similarity of the signaling stimulus, and to the response rate of the just-preceding trial. The interactions noted above do not appear to make important contributions to this effect.     

On narcissism and post-narcissism: Psychology and theology in context

A contextual approach to narcissism is developed in which theology is seen to articulate simultaneously with psychological needs and cultural values. Some implications of the psychology of the self for theology and culture are discussed in this framework.The author wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. Larry K. Graham for his comments on an earlier version of this paper.Dr. Fallot is a psychologist on the staff of the Student Counseling Service, University of Illinois at Chicago, P.O. Box 4348, Chicago, Il. 60680.