Auditory objects of attention: the role of interaural time differences.

The role of interaural time difference (ITD) in perceptual grouping and selective attention was explored in 3 experiments. Experiment 1 showed that listeners can use small differences in ITD between 2 sentences to say which of 2 short, constant target words was part of the attended sentence, in the absence of talker or fundamental frequency differences. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that listeners do not explicitly track components that share a common ITD. Their inability to segregate a harmonic from a target vowel by a difference in ITD was not substantially changed by the vowel being placed in a sentence context, where the sentence shared the same ITD as the rest of the vowel. The results indicate that in following a particular auditory sound source over time, listeners attend to perceived auditory objects at particular azimuthal positions rather than attend explicitly to those frequency components that share a common ITD.     

Dichotic backward masking of complex sounds

In the first experiment subjects identified a consonant-vowel syllable presented dichotically with a known contralateral masking sound at a stimulus onset asynchrony of ± 60 msec. When the mask followed the target syllable, perception of place of articulation of the consonant was impaired more when the mask was a different consonant-vowel syllable than when it was either a steady-state vowel or a non-speech timbre. Perception was disturbed less when the mask preceded the target, and the amount of disruption was independent of which mask was used. Greater backward than forward masking was also found in the second experiment for the identification of complex sounds which differed in an initial change in pitch. These experiments suggest that the extraction of complex auditory features from a target can be disrupted by the subsequent contralateral presentation of a sound sharing certain features with the target.     

Book reviews

Patterns of Redundancy: A Psychological Study. By A.C. Staniland. London: Cambridge university Press. 1966. Pp. viii + 216. 45s. $50.

Signal Detection theory and Psychophysics. By David M. Green and John A. Swets. London and New York: Wiley. 1966. Pp. xi + 455. 104s.

Acquisition of Skill. Edited by E.A. Bilodeau. New York and London: Academic Press. 1966. Pp. xiii + 539. £5.0

Readings in Verbal Learning: Contemporary Theory and Research. Edited by Donald H. Kausler. London and New york: Wiley. 1966. Pp. xii + 578. 60s.

Experiments in Visual Perception. Edited by M.D. Vernon. London: Penguin Modern Psychology. Pp. 430. 8s 6d.

Motivation. Edited by Dalbir Bindra and Jane Stewart. London: Penguin Modern Psychology. 1966. Pp. 352. 8s. 6d.

Pattern Recognition: Theory, Experiment, Computer Simulations, and Dynamic Models of Form Perception and discovery. Edited by Loenard Uhr. New York and London: wiley. 1966. Pp. xii + 393. 68s. cloth, 45s. paper.

Advances in the Study of Behavior. Volume I. Edited by D. S. Lehrman, R. A. Hinde and E. shaw. New York and London: Academic Press. 1965. Pp. x + 320. 76s.

Fields of Psychology. Edited by J. P. Guilford. Third Edition. Princeton, N. J. and London: Van Nostrand. 1966. Pp. x + 350. 72s.

Attitudes. Edited by M. Jahoda and N. Warren. London: Penguin Modern Psychology. 1966. Pp.375. 8s. 6d.

Personality Assessment. Edited by Boris Semeonoff. London: penguin Modern Psychology. 1966. Pp. 443. 8s. 6d

The Psychology Of Learning. By R. Borger and A. E. M. Seaborne. Harmondsworth. Middx.: penguin Books (Pelican Orginal). 1966. Pp. 243. 5s.

Eliminating the Unconscious: A Behaviourist View Psycho-analysis. By T.R. Miles. Oxford and London: Pergamon. 1966. Pp. xviii + 171. 17s. 6d.

Manuel Pratique de Psychologie Experimentale. By Paul Fraisse. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. 2nd edition, 1963. Pp. 392. 20F.

Abstraction and Concept Formation. By Anatol pikas. London: Oxford University press (Harvard University Press). 1966. Pp.xiii + 303. 56s.

Tactics of Scientific research. By Murray Sidman. London and New York: Basic Books. 1966. Pp. x + 428. $17s. 6d.

Psychodynamics and Hypnosis: New Contributions to the practice and theory Of hypno-therapy. Compiled and Edited by Milton V. Kline. Springfield. Illinois: Thomas. 1966. Pp. xi + 194. $8.75.

Psychology: The Science of Mental Life. By G.A Miller. London: Penguin Books. 1966. Pp. 415.7s. 6d.

The Memory System of the Brain. By J. Z. Young. London: Oxford University Press. 1967. Pp. vii + 128. 28s.     

Approaching psychotherapy of the personality disorders from the Millon perspective.

Millon's integrative model for a clinical science begins with a theory that is consistent with current knowledge, establishes a taxonomy for classification, develops a coordinated assessment system, and develops and implements interventions with the guidance of the preceding elements of the model. In recent years, work on the last step of the model, clinical interventions, has accelerated rapidly, and the model now permits the therapist to directly extrapolate specific treatment goals, objective, and techniques to the practice of therapy with the individual patient. This article summarizes how treatment planning and implementation flows logically from the Millon model.     

Effect of voice characteristics on the attended and unattended processing of two concurrent messages

Three experiments using dichotic listening measured the priming effect produced on the detection of a semantically defined target word in an attended list of words by a lexically identical word presented to the opposite ear with an attenuation of 12 dB. Experiment 1 embedded the prime in unattended continuous speech and found a 21 ms priming effect, but only when the voices of the two messages had different pitch ranges. Experiment 2 emphasised and generalised the priming effect to a more natural situation using voices differing both in pitch and timbre. This priming effect did not vary with word frequency. In Experiment 3 the prime was part of a list of isolated words played to the unattended ear. It found a 94 ms priming effect when there was no pitch-range difference between the two messages. This priming effect was larger for high-frequency words than for low. These results extend recent findings by Rivenez, Darwin, and Guillaume (2006) and demonstrate the importance of factors that influence perceptual organisation in determining the extent to which unattended messages can be processed.     

Rethink "Affirmative Agreement," but Abandon "Assent"

Training in ethics and professionalism is a fundamental component of residency education, yet there is little empirical information to guide curricula. The objective of this study is to describe empirically derived ethics objectives for ethics and professionalism training for multiple specialties. Study design is a thematic analysis of documents, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups conducted in a setting of an academic medical center, Veterans Administration, and community hospital training more than 1000 residents. Participants were 84 informants in 13 specialties including residents, program directors, faculty, practicing physicians, and ethics committees. Thematic analysis identified commonalities across informants and specialties. Resident and nonresident informants identified consent, interprofessional relationships, family interactions, communication skills, and end-of-life care as essential components of training. Nonresidents also emphasized formal ethics instruction, resource allocation, and self-monitoring, whereas residents emphasized the learning environment and resident-attending interactions. Conclusions are that empirically derived learning needs for ethics and professionalism included many topics, such as informed consent and resource allocation, relevant for most specialties, providing opportunities for shared curricula and resources.     

Acclimating International Graduate Students to Professional Engineering Ethics

This article describes the education portion of an ongoing grant-sponsored education and research project designed to help graduate students in all engineering disciplines learn about the basic ethical principles, rules, and obligations associated with engineering practice in the United States. While the curriculum developed for this project is used for both domestic and international students, the educational materials were designed to be sensitive to the specific needs of international graduate students. In recent years, engineering programs in the United States have sought to develop a larger role for professional ethics education in the curriculum. Accreditation requirements, as well as pressures from the private sector, have helped facilitate this shift in focus. Almost half of all engineering graduate students in the U.S. are international students. Further, research indicates that the majority of these students will remain in the U.S. to work post-graduation. It is therefore in the interest of the profession that these students, coming from diverse backgrounds, receive some formal exposure to the professional and ethical expectations and norms of the engineering profession in the United States to help ensure that they have the knowledge and skills—non-technical as well as technical—required in today’s engineering profession. In becoming acculturated to professional norms in a host country, international students face challenges that domestic students do not encounter; such as cultural competency, language proficiency, and acculturation stress. Mitigating these challenges must be a consideration in the development of any effective education materials. The present article discusses the project rationale and describes the development of on-line instructional materials aimed at helping international engineering graduate students acclimate to professional engineering ethics standards in the United States. Finally, a brief data summary of students’ perceptions of the usefulness of the content and instructional interface is provided to demonstrate the initial effectiveness of the materials and to present a case for project sustainability.