Linguistic negation in autistic and normal children

Young, severely maladaptive autistic children with some speech competence were compared to normally developing 3-year-old children of lower and middle class and 5-year-olds of lower class on negation tasks. All subjects were shown 12 sets of cards depicting negative contrasts designed to elicit semantic categories of nonexistence, denial, and rejection and were tested for production, imitation, and comprehension. Syntactic and semantic analysis revealed that autistic children were superior imitators and poor producers but showed skills in comprehension comparable to a 4-year-old's level of functioning. While retarded in some functions, the experimental group produced syntactic structures that were more rigid, suggesting the significantly greater use of imitation as a major strategy in linguistic coding.This work was done at the NYU-Bellevue Medical Center with partial support by NIMH Grant No. MH 07331 to R. K.     

An introduction to microcomputer networking concepts

This paper presents a brief history of the use of internal computer networks, an introduction to networking concepts and topology, and suggestions regarding a possible system for use in a psychology laboratory. Considerations about the design and use of a microcomputer network are discussed.     

Ethanol’s influence on the stimulus level required to evoke an orienting response in goldfish

In goldfish the heart rate orienting response to periodic photic stimuli was measured by a specially designed computer that also regulated the intensity of the stimuli to maintain the response. When ethanol was administered, the fish then exhibited orienting responses to less intense stimuli; this increased excitability was maintained for the duration of all tests(i.e., a maximum of 26 hours). There also seemed to be a residual increase of excitability lasting as long as 7 days after the ethanol was administered.     

YEPS: Running real-time experiments on a timesharing system

The Yale experimental programming system is described. This system consists of user-callable subroutines and a set of modifications to the UNIX operating system which support the development and execution of real-time psychology experiments. The interactions between a timesharing operating system and the provision of real-time facilities for experiments are discussed.     

Contour specificity of the McCollough effect

Subjective estimates of McCollough aftereffect strength are significantly reduced when certain spatial features of the line grating patterns are manipulated. Results are dependent upon whether the spatial parameters of the test or inspection patterns are altered. Changing the angular slant, contour sharpness, or contour completeness of the inspection gratings does not affect aftereffect strength, but changing the spatial frequency, contour sharpness, or contour completeness of the test gratings does. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to theories offered to explain the McCollough effect.     

Influencesicture context on object recognition

The effect of sorrounding context on the recognition of objects from briefly presented pictures was investigated. Forty-eight undergraduates saw 100 msec displays of either line drawings containing several objects embedded in context or drawings of object arrays without background context. Following each exposure they were required to select from among four objects the one that had been contained in the picture. Presentation of objects in context aided recognition only when incorrect response alternatives were inconsistent with the picture context. The results suggest that context contributes to the construction of a general characterization of the pictures which provides expectancies regarding the identity of specific objects.     

Interviewee perceptions of an organisational careers guidance scheme

A study was carried out during the early stages of the introduction of a career development scheme in a large government department. Information relating to aspects of various careers counselling issues was gathered from staff who had received such counselling and from personnel staff responsible for its provision. The study shows, amongst other things, that the interviewers were perceived to use some counselling skills, that the interviewers claimed they experienced few problems of role conflict, but that the staff tended to identify the interviewers with management. The findings are discussed relation to the appropriateness of interviewing style and to the broader context of how individuals might influence their career development within the opportunities provided by the organisation.