Weekends and holidays and acting-out behavior of developmentally delayed women: a reply to Dr. Mark Flynn.

A previous report on the effect of the day of the full moon on the acting-out behavior of 20 developmentally delayed, institutionalized women showed that on the day of the full moon there were significantly more misbehaviors than on any other day during the lunar period. The records were re-evaluated to assess the frequency of acting-out behaviors on weekends and holidays as contrasted with the balance of the month. This re-evaluation indicated there was no significant difference between the weekends and holidays and the balance of the month (t = 1.14). The results were taken as support of the previous findings that on the day of the full moon there were significantly more misbehaviors than on any other day of the lunar period.     

THE INFLUENCE OF ASSESSEE PERFORMANCE VARIATION ON ASSESSORS'JUDGMENTS

Assessors evaluated assessees'performances in one of three performance conditions in an assessment center simulation: a consistent performance condition, a within-assessee performance variation condition, or a between-assessee performance variation condition. Contrast effects influenced ratings of assessees when there was variation in performance within assessees. For each assessee, the low target performance was rated lower when the assessee's prior performance had been dissimilar (high) than when the assessee's prior performance had been similar (low). Contrast effects also infiuenced assessors'ratings of the target assessee when there was variation in performance among assessees. The low performing target assessee was rated significantly lower when he was evaluated with two high performers than when he was evaluated with two low performers. In addition, ratings obtained when there was performance variation among assessees were more accurate than those obtained when there was no performance variation, suggesting that under some circumstances contrast effects may not lead to inferior judgments.     

INTERVIEWER DECISION PROCESSES AND EFFECTIVENESS: AN EXPERIMENTAL POLICY-CAPTURING INVESTIGATION

Using a policy-capturing approach, 29 corporate interviewers evaluated 64 hypothetical candidates for a position in a financial services organization. Six selection criteria were manipulated in a balanced factorial design. Interviewers evaluated candidates' qualifications and made hiring recommendations. The results revealed substantial individual differences in interviewers' decision strategies, as well as their insight into their own decision processes. Data on the effectiveness of the 29 interviewers were collected from 427 hiring managers and the decision processes of effective and ineffective interviewers were compared. The findings indicated that the decision strategies used by effective interviewers were quite similar to one another and relied heavily on two selection criteria. Also, effective interviewers were more likely than ineffective interviewers to use selection criteria in a manner that mirrored their self-reports of the importance of these criteria. Effective interviewers were more aware of their decision processes than ineffective interviewers.     

Extracting thresholds from noisy psychophysical data.

Psychophysical studies with infants or with patients often are unable to use pilot data, training, or large numbers of trials. To evaluate threshold estimates under these conditions, computer simulations of experiments with small numbers of trials were performed by using psychometric functions based on a model of two types of noise: stimulus-related noise (affecting slope) and extraneous noise (affecting upper asymptote). Threshold estimates were biased and imprecise when extraneous noise was high, as were the estimates of extraneous noise. Strategies were developed for rejecting data sets as too noisy for unbiased and precise threshold estimation; these strategies were most successful when extraneous noise was low for most of the data sets. An analysis of 1,026 data sets from visual function tests of infants and toddlers showed that extraneous noise is often considerable, that experimental paradigms can be developed that minimize extraneous noise, and that data analysis that does not consider the effects of extraneous noise may underestimate test-retest reliability and overestimate interocular differences.     

Self-perceived information needs and concerns of elderly persons.

The research was intended to identify the dimensions underlying self-perceived information needs and concerns of an elderly population. The spontaneously mentioned needs and concerns expressed in 271 letters from a sample of the population were extracted and a multidimensional scaling procedure was used to represent the 58 most frequently mentioned items in configurations of varying dimensionality. To interpret the multidimensional spaces, another sample of 176 elderly subjects was asked to rate the 58 concerns on eight properties. These ratings were then regressed onto the multidimensional configurations. The results indicate that the most frequently mentioned information needs and concerns of elderly persons can be parsimoniously understood in terms of three underlying dimensions: (1) Improving the Quality of Life vs Securing the Necessities of Life, (2) Health-related vs Not Health-related, and (3) Individual vs Societal Responsibility.     

Lingual vibrotactile threshold and suprathreshold responses of normal-speaking black and white young adults.

A paradigm for studying oral sensory tactile function through use of single frequency vibration applied to the dorsal surface of the tongue was administered to a group of 10 young black women and 10 young white normal-speaking women. Analyses showed no differences between groups with regard to lingual vibrotactile threshold of sensitivity or suprathreshold magnitude-estimation scaling responses.     

A novel contact-lens system to assess visual hemispheric asymmetries.

A soft contact-lens system for achieving unilateral visual stimulation in a free vision format is described. Initial testing with light transmittance and visual perimetry indicated that the lenses created artificial visual-field deficits. The efficacy of the lenses as a technique for lateralizing visual input was evaluated by examining within-subject differences in performance on two visuospatial tasks. Speed and accuracy of performance were greater with visual input directed to the right hemisphere. These data support the lens design as a useful alternative to tachistoscopic procedures and previous lens systems.     

On the perception of shape from shading.

The extraction of three-dimensional shape from shading is one of the most perceptually compelling, yet poorly understood, aspects of visual perception. In this paper, we report several new experiments on the manner in which the perception of shape from shading interacts with other visual processes such as perceptual grouping, preattentive search ("pop-out"), and motion perception. Our specific findings are as follows: (1) The extraction of shape from shading information incorporates at least two "assumptions" or constraints--first, that there is a single light source illuminating the whole scene, and second, that the light is shining from "above" in relation to retinal coordinates. (2) Tokens defined by shading can serve as a basis for perceptual grouping and segregation. (3) Reaction time for detecting a single convex shape does not increase with the number of items in the display. This "pop-out" effect must be based on shading rather than on differences in luminance polarity, since neither left-right differences nor step changes in luminance resulted in pop-out. (4) When the subjects were experienced, there were no search asymmetries for convex as opposed to concave tokens, but when the subjects were naive, cavities were much easier to detect than convex shapes. (5) The extraction of shape from shading can also provide an input to motion perception. And finally, (6) the assumption of "overhead illumination" that leads to perceptual grouping depends primarily on retinal rather than on "phenomenal" or gravitational coordinates. Taken collectively, these findings imply that the extraction of shape from shading is an "early" visual process that occurs prior to perceptual grouping, motion perception, and vestibular (as well as "cognitive") correction for head tilt. Hence, there may be neural elements very early in visual processing that are specialized for the extraction of shape from shading.     

Differences in lingual vibrotactile threshold shifts during magnitude-estimation scaling between normal-speaking children and children with articulation problems.

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in function of the tactile sensory system between groups of normal-speaking children and children with articulation problems. This task was accomplished by studying possible tactile threshold shifts occurring during magnitude-estimation scaling of vibratory stimuli presented to the dorsal surface of the tongue. 10 normal-speaking children (M age = 7.8 yr.) and 9 children with articulation problems (M age = 7.5 yr.) participated. The normal-speaking children and articulatory defective children performed differently on the magnitude-estimation scaling task in which threshold was allowed to return to baseline after each stimulus presentation. These two groups of children also showed dissimilar threshold shifts for the suprathreshold intensities employed in the magnitude-estimation scaling.     

Effects of color of paper on which the Profile of Mood States is printed on the psychological states it measures.

The Profile of Mood States was printed on four different colors of paper (yellow, red, green, blue) and white to test whether the color of paper would influence mood state scores of 246 college students. Univariate analyses of variance identified color effects only on the Fatigue scale.