Dichotic listening during forced-attention in a patient with left hemispherectomy

A young left-handed girl with an extensive posttraumatic lesion in the left hemisphere was tested with dichotic listening (DL) under three different attentional instructions. The major aim of the study was to evaluate a structural vs attentional explanation for dichotic listening. As both her expressive and receptive language functions were intact after the lesion, it was assumed that the right hemisphere was the language-dominant one. In the free-report condition, she was free to divert attention to and to report from both ear inputs. In the forced-right condition, she was instructed to attend to and report only from the right ear input. In the forced-left condition, she was instructed to attend to and to report only from the left-ear input. Her performance was compared with data from a previously collected sample of normal left-handed females. Analysis showed that the patient, in contrast to the normal sample, revealed a complete right-ear extinction phenomenon, irrespective of attentional instruction. Furthermore, she showed superior correct reports from the left ear, compared with those of the normal sample, also irrespective of attentional instruction. It is concluded that these results support a structural, rather than attentional explanation for the right-ear advantage (REA) typically observed in dichotic listening. The utility of validating the dichotic listening technique on patients with brain lesions is discussed.     

Subliminal stimulation, choice behavior and some personality correlates of subliminal sensitivity

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible relations between specific personality variables and the effect of subliminal stimulation on choice behavior. It was hypothesized that subjects with low anxiety, less neuroticism, and external locus of control and the trait of extraversion would be more susceptible to subliminal stimulation. 38 undergraduate students were exposed to subliminal messages urging them to choose symbols instead of numbers or letters. Analysis showed that subliminal stimulation did not generate a preference for symbols over numbers or letters. No support was observed for the hypothesis of an association between susceptibility and personality variables. These results may be explained in terms of symbol choice being a neutral message that did not relate to the subjects' needs and motivation.     

Sensorimotor synchronization: motor responses to regular auditory patterns.

Subjects (N = 32) were asked to synchronize a motor response with tones in auditory patterns. These patterns were created from six tones and six intertone intervals of equal duration. The pitch of the first tone differed from the others. It was found that subjects used three types of timing in their motor response: (1) the first intertone interval was prolonged and the second interval was shortened, (2) the second intertone interval was prolonged and the first interval was shortened, and/or (3) the first interval and the second interval were of approximately the same length. The prolongation of the fifth interval was observed during all three types of timing. The results are explained using the concept of suprasegmental control of timing, which explains a prolongation of intervals at critical control point of the patterns. The occurrence of three different strategies of timing is discussed in connection with similar principles in musical performance.     

Two-stage model for order discrimination

Ulrich (1987), exploring the shapes of psychometric functions obtained in the ternary-response paradigm, indicated several inconsistencies between observed and predicted relationships providing evidence against most popular models of temporal-order judgment. In this paper, a new model is presented. It assumes that there are two mechanisms involved in the order discrimination task: one is responsible for the recognition of whether or not the stimuli are successive, and the second is able to determine their order. The model was tested using Allan's (1975a, 1975b) and Ulrich's (1987) data; the model predictions were found to be consistent with the experimental results.     

Idea and reality of training analysis. A plea for reforms (II)

Thom? pleads for a form of psychoanalytic training in which the critical appropriation of psychoanalytic and humanistic knowledge as well as therapeutic competence are the focus and in which the personal analysis (super-therapy) is no longer overvalued. It seems possible to limit the length of training analyses. Qualification for professional practice should be worked out exclusively within the training institute and in close collaboration with instructors.     

Impression management in behavior toward handicapped patients]

A previous study (Tr?ster, 1989) showed that nonhandicapped persons preferred a physically handicapped interaction partner to a nonhandicapped partner in an attributionally unambiguous situation. In order to test whether this "sympathy effect of physical handicap" is based on tendencies of impression management, 48 female subjects had to choose to sit next to either a physically handicapped or nonhandicapped female interaction partner in order to view a film together. Attributional ambiguity was varied by either confounding the choice of an interaction partner with a second, socially acceptable alternative (attributionally ambiguous situation: a choice between two films) or not confounding it (attributionally unambiguous situation: no choice between films). Public responsibility was manipulated by informing the subjects about their freedom to choose where they wished to sit either in public (public responsibility) or in private (no public responsibility). The results supported the impression management hypothesis: The handicapped interaction partner (in a wheelchair) was only preferred when the subjects had to anticipate that observers would deduce a preference of the chosen partner from the subjects' choices because of the attributionally unambiguous situation and the public announcement of their freedom of choice. Results suggest that the nonhandicapped strive to exhibit positive and nondiscriminative behavior toward the handicapped in order to avoid creating a disadvantageous impression in an observer.     

Affect and performance in simple problems

We investigate the effects of emotional mood states on solving simple pattern comparison tasks. It is assumed that the effects of mood are mediated through response biases as well as effort expenditure. Departing from these assumptions, trend hypotheses are derived for the response biases evaluated by means of a signal detection analysis, for the response latencies, and for an adequate index of the underlying ability. The data support the hypotheses, and in particular, a positive mood state is found to improve performance. The assumption of mood-dependent differences in effort expenditure provides a parsimonious and integrative account of our results, while a reduced-capacity view cannot explain the findings obtained under positive mood induction.     

Parental defense style and child competence: A match-mismatch hypothesis

This study sought to explore the possible relationship between parental style of psychological defense and children's social competence in 50 families in which one parent had been hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder. Based upon a formal analysis of the logical transformations inherent in various defense mechanisms, three levels of complexity of defenses were identified, along with a counterpart set of cognitive operations necessary for decoding these defense levels. It was hypothesized that children lacking the requisite cognitive skills to grasp the logical complexities of their disturbed parent's primary mode of psychological defense would be less socially adjusted and judged less competent than children who could understand the defensive transformations of their parent. The results suggested that children who, due to their cognitive immaturity, are potentially     

Sex-role identity and self-esteem in female graduate nursing students

This study investigated masculinity and femininity characteristics and levels of self-esteem of 96 female graduate nursing students between the ages of 20 and 50. The instruments used were incorporated into a questionnaire which was mailed to each student. Self-esteem was measured by a version of Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory which Good and Good modified to adapt to adult standards. To measure femininity and masculinity, a shortened version of the Bem Sex Role Inventory was used: Subjects rated themselves along a 7-point Likert scale for 10 masculine and 10 feminine traits. The categorical method of scoring by Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp was employed. The students were fairly evenly distributed across the following four categories: low masculine-low feminine; low masculine-high feminine; high masculine-low feminine; and high masculinehigh feminine. The students in the high masculine-low feminine and the high masculine-high feminine categories were found to have a statistically higher mean self-esteem than the students in the low masculine-low feminine and low masculne-high feminine categories. Implications were mentioned regarding the development of a high degree of both masculine and feminine characteristics in nurses.     

Men's and women's evaluations of menstrual-related excuses

Based on an attributional analysis of menstrual distress, the present study examined how a woman is evaluated when she attributes an instance of negative social behavior to the approach or onset of menstruation. College men and women were asked to imagine an interaction in which a woman behaves very irritably and then gives one of several excuses for her negative behavior, two of which were menstrual related. Subjects evaluated each excuse in terms of (1) degree of annoyance, (2) blameworthiness, and (3) internality versus externality. The results showed consistent relationships between these evaluations and both sex of subject and general attitudes about menstruation. Males tended to see menstrual-related excuses as less blameworthy and more external than did females. In addition, general attitudes regarding the debilitating effects of menstruation predicted greater tolerance toward the use of menstrual excuses. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the socialization and continuing reinforcement of menstrual distress.The research reported in this article was supported by grants SOC-7602137 and SOC-7602179 from the National Science Foundation. The authors wish to thank Russ Fazio for his help in collecting the data and Al Rogers and Terry Balaban for their help in analyzing the data. Diane N. Ruble is now at New York University. Ann K. Boggiano is now at the University of Colorado.